Santa Ana man charged with fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy and injuring a teen

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder for shooting a 13-year-old boy to death and shooting a 16-year-old boy in the head during a drive-by shooting in the middle of the day in front of an elementary school. Parents who came to pick up their children from school were greeted by crime scene tape at the pickup gates, according to the OCDA.

Raymond Mario Jimenez, 27, of Santa Ana, has been charged with one felony count of murder, one felony count of attempted murder, one felony count of shooting into an inhabited dwelling, and six felony enhancements for shooting a firearm causing great bodily injury or death.

He faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole if convicted on all counts.

On June 5, 2024, at about 12:15 p.m., two 13-year-old boys were shot at during a confrontation on Pine Street in Santa Ana and the boys began running toward their apartment building on Bishop Avenue a few blocks away. Minutes later, a man, later identified as Raymond Mario Jimenez, drove up to the boys, stopped in the street, and opened fire.

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Vargas was shot in the head. Vargas was taken to OC Global, but he died a few days later. The other teenager was not hit, but a 16-year-old boy who looked out his kitchen window during the shooting was shot in the head. He survived the shooting and was taken to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Jimenez is scheduled to be arraigned July 10, 2024, at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana in Department C5.