COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) — Surveillance video captured a Thanksgiving shooting in Costa Mesa that left one person dead and four others wounded, and police say road rage may be to blame for the incident.
One of the survivors of the shooting is now sharing details from that night.
Jaime Nieto was left with bruising on his chest and arm where the bullet grazed his body. He says they were out with a group of cousins and friends for a late lunch on Thursday.
They’re all from the same region of Mexico and don’t have much family in Southern California, so they decided to have a Thanksgiving meal together. Nieto says a nightmare unfolded when he was dropped off in Costa Mesa just before 7 p.m.
Surveillance video of the incident, now under review by detectives, shows the victims pull over in a silver truck to drop off Nieto. A suspect in a black truck pulled up next to them and at least eight shots were fired.
Five men in total were shot, police say. One of them remains in critical condition, but 30-year-old Lucas Rivera did not survive.
Nieto remembers dragging his friend out of the truck. In Spanish, he told Eyewitness News Rivera was no longer speaking and vomiting blood.
Rivera leaves behind devastated parents in Mexico and siblings. A GoFundMe account was established to help cover funeral costs. We’re told his family is in the process of taking his body back down to Mexico.
Nieto says he is left in mourning and now fears for his safety. He’s only been in the U.S. five months, working as a landscaper, like his friend, to send money home to their families.
He said they’re not here to harm anyone and doesn’t know why he and his friends had to suffer this pain.
The alleged shooter, 41-year-old Walker Lee, of Santa Ana, turned himself into police on Friday.
Authorities said this all could have stemmed from a minor traffic collision before the shooting, but additional details were not provided.
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