O.C. Victim of Romanian Revolt to Be Buried There : Patriotism: Fullerton resident’s brother, traveling with him in their native land, tells how Ion Antimie was killed and he was wounded in an attack on their car.

FULLERTON —  The bullet-riddled body of Ion (John) Antimie, the Fullerton man killed in his native Romania by security forces loyal to executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, is to be buried beside his mother in his homeland this weekend, with a memorial service in Anaheim next week, his family said Thursday.

Family members also said that they now believe that the 21-year-old man was shot eight times during the weekend near the Romanian city of Cluj and that the rented car he had been driving was found punctured with more than 400 bullet holes.

Those reports, still unconfirmed by the U.S. State Department, came Thursday after the family spoke for the first time late Wednesday night with John’s 32-year-old brother, Constantine. The two brothers, both from Fullerton, were in Romania to deliver food and medical supplies after violence broke out during Ceausescu’s bloody overthrow.

“It sounded like a massacre,” said brother-in-law James Ovi of Riverside.

Relatives in Orange and Riverside counties had tried constantly for nearly three days without success to get through to Constantine, who they said has been staying with relatives in Romania since the attack by security forces..

Constantine told family members that he had been wounded twice when their moving car was sprayed with fire, once near his eye and also in his right leg, according to Ovi. “But he is OK.”

“He said he couldn’t believe what has happened to him,” Ovi recounted. “Before they got to the city of Cluj, he said they got away from three other attacks by the security forces; the last one was the worst, and John was dead.”

Constantine Antimie said he believes that he and his brother may have been attacked because they were driving a foreign car--an Audi rented in West Germany--possibly signaling to Ceausescu security forces that they might be carrying supplies from outside the country, according to Ovi. He said they were traveling alone at the time and were attacked by perhaps a dozen men.

The two brothers, who helped run a construction business in Fullerton that the family started after coming from Romania four years ago, left Orange County before the start of bloodshed in Romania. John was planning to visit his girlfriend there.

But they changed plans once the widespread violence and revolt began, staying over in West Germany for a few days last week to gather food and medical supplies for friends and relatives.

Ovi said Constantine returned to the site of the attack with friends and retrieved his brother’s body. It is to be buried Sunday next to his mother in the city of Margina. A public memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Anaheim at the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 900 S. Sunkist St.