Two violent confrontations with taggers occurring a week apart in the Anaheim area have left three men hospitalized, and one of them dead, authorities said Monday.
In the first incident, one of two men shot on July 19 died after confronting a group of men about 10 p.m. near Poona Drive and Lullaby Lane, in an unincorporated area west of Anaheim, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
David Douglas, 51, died at UC Irvine Medical Center about six hours after the confrontation.
Douglas and another man who lives in the neighborhood were shot at inside a Ford SUV when they confronted the group of young men, who were spray painting on the street, the Orange County Register reported. One of the young men, described as a Hispanic man in his late teens or early 20s, pulled out a handgun and fired on the two victims and then fled, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The taggers were believed to be gang members, sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said Monday.
Douglas was a Boy Scouts troop leader and volunteer in his Mormon congregation in Anaheim, the Register reported. The man he was with was also hospitalized.
In connection with Douglas’ killing, a 32-year-old man was arrested near his home in Chino on July 21, but he was ordered released two days later when the Orange County District Attorney’s Office decided not the file charges against him following additional investigation.
In the second, more recent incident, a man was beaten and stabbed Sunday night when he confronted a group of four or five taggers outside a vacant house near Lincoln Avenue and Stinson Street.
Four or five taggers were spray-painting the home when the victim confronted them, Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt. They attacked him, stabbing him once in the back.
Police believe four Latino males and one white male were in the group of taggers, and they fled in a blue Nissan Versa.
The victim was hospitalized and his condition was not known.
“At this point, there is no known connection between the incident that happened in unincorporated Anaheim last week,” Wyatt said. “Our investigators will most definitely be in connection with the sheriff’s investigators if there is any indication that they are linked.”
The taggers in Sunday night’s confrontation were also thought to be gang members, Wyatt said.
The two incidents occurred about 2 miles apart.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the victim in the July 26 attack was stabbed multiple times. In fact, he was stabbed only one. The article has been updated.