Drug Traffickers Blamed in Street Murder : Boy Killed in Drive-By Shooting : Murder: The 12-year-old was gunned down, apparently in a case of mistaken identity after a drug deal. Two suspects have been arrested.

SANTA ANA —  A 12-year-old boy was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting Tuesday night as he walked with his brother to a street corner where, moments before, a drug deal had apparently gone awry, police said.

Pedro Sanchez Hernandez, the youngest of five children, was heading to a friend’s house with his brother, Gus, shortly before midnight when they saw an approaching automobile and heard someone shout, “Drive-by.”

“I ducked behind a car and I yelled for my brother to follow,” Gus Hernandez, 16, said in an interview Wednesday. “I saw this car go by and then I heard four shots. I looked for my brother and there he was, dead.”

Hernandez said he found his brother lying on the grass, his head covered with blood. Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton said the boy was shot once in the head and apparently died instantly.

The car then sped from the intersection of South Wood and Myrtle streets--a central Santa Ana neighborhood where residents say drug dealers and gang members have become increasingly brazen--but drove back to the corner about a minute later, Hernandez said.

“It was like they were checking to see whether they got anybody,” Gus Hernandez said. “I don’t know why they shot us. It was the first time I ever saw these guys. They just started shooting for no reason.”

A 17-year-old youth, who was not identified by police, was also shot in the leg during the attack. But he was treated and released from a local hospital.

About an hour after the shooting, police in Westminster stopped a white car matching a description obtained earlier and arrested Thomas Trung Nguyen, 22, of Santa Ana and Minh Chi Nguyen, 19, of San Bernardino. Both were being held in Orange County Jail on suspicion of homicide and assault with a deadly weapon.

Helton said a drug deal had apparently occurred on the street corner moments before the two Hernandez brothers walked by. There is no indication that the brothers were connected to the drug deal or were gang members, he added.

“We’re looking into the possibility that this (shooting) was a case of mistaken identity,” Helton said.

On Wednesday, the dead boy’s sister, Sally, 15, planted a wooden marker on the grass where he fell. The marker reads, “R.I.P. We love you.” A piece of black cloth was nailed to the door of an apartment where friends and family gathered to grieve.

Pedro’s mother, Victoria, a single parent who works in a plastics factory, spent most of the morning arranging her son’s funeral and telephoning relatives. So far, she said, she does not have enough money to pay for a coffin and has asked neighbors to help with the anticipated $2,200 funeral expense.

Ramon Najera, Pedro’s uncle, said the boy was to have been a seventh-grader at Spurgeon Intermediate School this fall. He had told his uncle that he wanted to become a teacher.

“We want justice,” Najera said. “He was young. He just started life and they took it away from him. They must not let the killers go.”

The shooting occurred in front of Cristina Ribea’s South Wood Street home. Ribea said Wednesday that she had been awakened by the gunfire. She said residents in the neighborhood have grown increasingly frightened because of drug activity.

“I am afraid now for my own two children who are teen-agers,” Ribea said. “Every day it seems to worsen and the danger is getting closer and closer.”

Omar Macias, 12, said he went to school with Pedro, adding that he had just talked to the boy a few minutes before the shots rang out.

“I ran to the window and saw him laying there,” Omar said. “He wasn’t a gang member, but he got shot anyway.”

Shawn Pierre, 23, who has lived in the neighborhood since he was a boy, said it has been in a steady decline since drug dealers began selling in the area in recent years.

“When I was a teen-ager around here, we didn’t have to worry about walking down the street by yourself or whether or not a bullet was going to hit you,” Pierre said. “This neighborhood is so bad, it really is best just to stay in the house. If I have to leave, I make sure I look both ways before coming out.”

Times staff writers Allison Samuels and James Gomez contributed to this report.