SAN FRANCISCO - Luis Prieto and his twin brother Victor were born five minutes apart and had been together most of the 21 years since.
They were separated by just a few feet when a car fleeing a strip club shooting killed Luis Prieto as he and his brother were crossing a San Francisco street early Friday, en route to a late night eatery. Victor and his girlfriend were unhurt.
"They have always been together," said their niece, Rebeca Prieto, 22, who lived with the fraternal twins in their North Beach apartment near where Luis died. "Never a day goes by when they were separated."
Police arrested three suspects in the death. They said at least one of the three had fired shots in the air near Larry Flynt's Hustler Club after an argument with a woman who works at the strip club.
Victor said he and Luis were inseparable. They were the youngest of 12 children in a family that moved to the United States from Mexico when the brothers were 10.
They moved to San Francisco together three years ago, and both attended the Academy of Art University. Luis loved to draw portraits, a talent he had honed since he was 8. His brother studies photography.
The speeding Nissan Maxima threw Luis at least 70 feet as pursuing police watched helplessly. He died at the scene.
Sgt. Wilfred Williams said police found three guns. The alleged driver, Oscar Alejandre, 21, of San Pablo, was acquitted of a Contra Costa County drive-by slaying last year but was wanted on San Francisco weapons charges from an earlier incident in the same parking lot where Friday's shooting occurred.
He was held on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and on weapons and drug-related charges.
Passengers Fidel Bejarano, 24, of Hercules, and Andrea Luna, 22, of Richmond, were held on suspicion of gun and drug offenses. Bejarano was on probation on a gun charge.
Police and prosecutors could not say Saturday if the three are represented by attorneys.
"My brother was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Victor Prieto. "The whole thing happened within three seconds."
"He was someone just walking to get something to eat," added Rebeca Prieto.
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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle