A worker outside a Santa Ana store sustained second-degree burns to his face, chest, an arm and a leg after a suspect threw acid at him in the parking lot Tuesday night, Sept. 25.
Firefighters found the man standing next to a car in the parking lot after the approximately 9 p.m. call and rinsed him off, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito said.
The hazardous-materials team was called to the parking lot in the 700 block of East Fourth Street. It cordoned off the area and took samples of the chemical while the 43-year-old man was treated and then taken to a hospital.
“Hazmat … determined the chemical was some kind of acid,” Bommarito said.
Santa Ana police said investigators don’t know if the attack was random or targeted.
“The employee had just gotten off work,” said police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. “He was having a cigarette and he sees this metal cylinder on his car.”
Along with the container was a man wearing a hoodie and bandana over his face. The employee confronted the suspect about being near his car and the man throws a chemical from the metal container at him, Bertagna said.
“The entire left part of this body was burned.”
The man fled in a dark vehicle and was at large.