An 18-year-old Garden Grove man is behind bars after Santa Ana police say they tracked him down in the neighboring city of Orange nearly seven months after a deadly shooting on East Elder Avenue left one man dead and another wounded. Anthony Arias was booked into Santa Ana Jail on suspicion of murder following an investigation that stretched from a Friday night in February into early September.
According to the Santa Ana Police Department, Arias was walking in the area of 700 E. Elder Ave. when he was confronted by the victims about his gang affiliation. Police say Arias then fired at the pair, killing 22-year-old David Nicholas Bravo Martinez and injuring a 20-year-old victim. The shooting happened around 9 p.m. on February 20, when officers responding to the 700 block of East Elder Avenue found Martinez lying in the roadway suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper torso, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Martinez, a Santa Ana resident born March 18, 2003, was pronounced dead at the scene by Orange County Fire Authority personnel, according to an obituary published by Tribute Archive. The surviving 20-year-old, who was shot in the upper torso while inside the vehicle with Martinez, managed to drive away to the 1200 block of East Borchard Avenue and called police at roughly 8:57 p.m. before being hospitalized in stable condition, Patch reported.
A Seven-Month Search Ends in Orange
Santa Ana Police Department Homicide Detectives opened an investigation immediately after the shooting, and the case drew in multiple specialized units over the following months. The Gang Suppression Unit and the Career Criminal Unit both assisted homicide detectives, as did the U.S. Marshals Service, which helped track Arias down.
On September 4, homicide detectives located and took Arias into custody in the city of Orange, according to the department's Facebook announcement. He was booked for violating Penal Code § 187(a), the state's murder statute, and remains held at Santa Ana Jail. Within the department, the Gang Suppression Unit operates under the Crimes Against Persons Division while the Career Criminal Unit sits under the Special Investigations Division, according to the City of Santa Ana's organizational chart, a structure that allowed the two units to coordinate on Arias's high-risk arrest.
What Arias Could Face in Court
Under California Penal Code § 187(a), a conviction for first-degree murder carries a state prison sentence of 25 years to life, while second-degree murder carries 15 years to life, according to Wallin & Klarich. Because the case has been described as gang-related, prosecutors could also pursue an enhancement under Penal Code § 186.22, which adds a 15-year-to-life sentence when a felony like murder is proven to have been committed for the benefit of, or in association with, a criminal street gang, per the Kann California Law Group. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue that enhancement, and whether any additional suspects or a getaway driver were involved has not been disclosed. Arias is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in Orange County Superior Court.
The case remains eligible for Santa Ana's Gang Reward Program, which offers financial incentives for anonymous tips on gang-related homicides in partnership with Orange County Crime Stoppers. Anyone with additional information is asked to call Homicide Section detectives at (714) 245-8390 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.
Part of a Broader Downward Trend
The Elder Avenue killing came during a year when Santa Ana's overall homicide count has continued to fall. The city recorded 12 homicides in 2025, a 20% decline from the 15 reported in 2024, according to Santa Ana Police Department Uniform Crime Reporting statistics cited by Security Guard Pros. That local dip mirrors a statewide pattern: the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice projected California's major crime rate fell roughly 7% in 2025, with homicide rates reaching their lowest levels statewide since 1955.
Even against that broader decline, the seven-month gap between the shooting and Arias's arrest underscores how resource-intensive gang-related homicide cases remain for local police. The combined effort of homicide detectives, gang investigators, career criminal specialists, and federal marshals to locate one suspect in a neighboring city reflects the scale of coordination such cases can demand.
