Car Theft Leads to Arrest of 2 Suspects in Drive-By Slaying

ANAHEIM — Police said Monday that they have two suspects in custody in connection with a September drive-by gang shooting that left an 18-year-old Orange man dead.

Corey Joseph Root, 19, of Anaheim and Armando Carrillo Gonzalez, 22, have been charged with murder in connection with the Sept. 16 death of Eloy Gutierrez, shot and killed outside a convenience store in the 1200 block of West Santa Ana Street, Police Lt. Ted Lebahn said.

Witnesses said someone in the car yelled gang slogans at Gutierrez before he was shot in the chest.

California Highway Patrol officers arrested Root and Gonzalez in late September near Yreka, Calif., driving an Isuzu Trooper that had been reported stolen near Lake Elsinore. They pleaded guilty to auto theft, and Root pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded firearm with an altered serial number, Lebahn said.

Lebahn said Anaheim police then developed leads that pointed to the men as suspects in the homicide. The Isuzu matches the description of the vehicle used in the drive-by shooting, and Root’s gun is the suspected murder weapon, he said.

Root is believed to be the shooter, Lebahn said.