A man and a woman, both 21 years old, were arrested on suspicion of murder late Friday night, Aug. 4, after the shooting death of a 19-year-old in broad daylight on an Irvine street Thursday, a shocking crime in a town dubbed “America’s Safest City” for its size 17 years in a row.
Nicholas Alistair Neaimi-Pour of Costa Mesa died from his injuries after he was shot in the passenger seat of a car at about 12:37 p.m. on Athel Avenue, near Sego Street, Irvine police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The investigation showed that Neaimi-Pour entered the passenger side of a black Mercedes-Benz that pulled along the east curb of Athel. A short time later, a white Honda Civic pulled alongside the Mercedes. The male passenger in the Honda got out and opened fire on Neaimi-Pour, striking him several times, police said.
Both cars were driven away after Neaimi-Pour got out of the car and collapsed in the street.
Detectives determined that two possible suspects lived near Kensington Park and Saint James in a residential area by Harvard Community Park that is less than a mile from the scene of the shooting. Detectives obtained a search warrant and called the SWAT team to arrest Noah Farmer of Tustin and Jayden Browndorf of Irvine at about 10 p.m. Friday. Both were apprehended without a struggle, police said in social media messages.
Both were in custody without bail on Saturday, according to the Orange County jail log. Their initial court appearances were scheduled for Tuesday.
Ali Neaimi Pour mourned the loss of his youngest son in a Facebook post.
“Sadly, his life was taken by a senseless act of violence. We are still in shock and trying to process this loss. Words cannot explain how much we will miss him. Please keep us in your prayers at this time,” Pour wrote. “Thank you to everyone who was a good friend to Nick. We are forever grateful for the impact you made on his life.”
Sgt. Karie Davies, a Police Department spokeswoman, declined to provide additional details Saturday night.
Several questions, therefore, remain unanswered, such as the status of the third suspect who was being sought, the relationship among the four people, who fired the gun and why they wanted Neaimi-Pour dead.
The investigation is rare work for Irvine’s homicide detectives; there were only two murders or non-negligent manslaughters in the city in 2021, the most recent year for which FBI statistics are available. The city notes on its website that according to those statistics, Irvine has the lowest per capita violent crime rate of any city in the nation with a population of 250,000 or more.
The statistics showed Irvine, with a reported population of 297,000, with a violent crime count of 71.0 per 100,000 residents. That was far ahead of second-place Virginia Beach, Virginia, which had 112.2 violent crimes per 100,000. That city had 14 homicides.
Gilbert, Arizona (273,000 residents) had three murders, and Plano, Texas (294,000), had five in 2021, the statistics said.
The violent crimes in the report are murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults.
#IRVINEPDPIO – The Irvine Police Department (IPD) has arrested two suspects in connection with a homicide that occurred on Thursday.
On August 3, 2023, at 12:37 p.m., IPD officers and the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) responded to the area of Athel Avenue and Sego Street pic.twitter.com/LcwxmQdR6t
— Irvine Police Department (@IrvinePolice) August 6, 2023
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