Police said officers found three gunshot victims after reports of shots fired Sunday night.
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two men were killed and a third person was wounded in a shooting in Santa Ana late Sunday, after officers responded to reports of gunfire just before 9 p.m., police said.
The shooting left a neighborhood crime scene stretched into the night and opened a new homicide investigation in Orange County. Santa Ana police said officers found three people with gunshot wounds when they arrived. One man died at the scene. Two others were taken to a hospital, where one later died. The third survived. By Monday, investigators had released few details about what led to the gunfire or who was responsible.
Police said the shooting was reported shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday near South Shelton Street in Santa Ana. When officers reached the area, they found three victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Emergency crews treated the wounded at the scene before taking two of them to a hospital. One of those victims later died. The surviving victim remained hospitalized. Authorities did not immediately say whether the three men knew each other, whether there had been an argument before the shooting, or whether investigators believed more than one weapon had been fired.
Local reports described the dead as two men in their 40s and said the surviving victim also was an adult man. Santa Ana police had not publicly identified any of the victims by Monday afternoon, and the department had not announced an arrest. Investigators also had not said whether they were searching for one shooter or trying to determine if there had been an exchange of gunfire. That left major questions unanswered, including where each victim was standing when shots were fired and whether anyone nearby saw the shooting begin.
The violence added to a run of high-profile public safety cases that have kept attention fixed on Santa Ana and other Orange County cities. Santa Ana, one of the county’s largest cities, has repeatedly faced gang, gun and street-crime investigations over the years, even as city leaders and police have pointed to targeted enforcement and community programs meant to reduce violence. Cases like Sunday’s often move slowly in the first day because detectives must secure the scene, collect shell casings and surveillance video, and notify relatives before releasing names. In early reporting, that means confirmed facts can remain limited even when the toll is already clear.
As of Monday, the case remained an active investigation. Police had not announced any charges, named a suspect or given a motive. The next steps are likely to include witness interviews, a review of camera footage from homes or businesses near the shooting site, forensic testing and autopsy findings from the Orange County coroner’s office. Investigators may also use hospital evidence, ballistic comparisons and cellphone data to build a timeline. Any arrest decision would depend on whether detectives can tie a shooter to the scene and show how the confrontation unfolded.
By daylight, the area where officers had answered the shots-fired call had become the center of a tightly held inquiry, with the most important details still in the hands of detectives. For neighbors, the most immediate facts were stark: gunfire erupted near their homes, two men were dead, and another person was recovering from wounds. For police, the case had shifted from an emergency response to the slower work of identifying victims, tracing movements and trying to explain why three people were shot in a single burst of violence.
The case stood Monday as an unsolved double homicide with one survivor and no announced suspect. The next major update is expected when Santa Ana police release victim identities, describe the circumstances of the shooting or announce an arrest.
Author note: Last updated April 20, 2026.