COUNTYWIDE : Gangs Blamed in Shooting, Stabbing

Santa Paula gang members were blamed by police for a shooting incident in Ventura, and the Sheriff’s Department linked Ventura gang members to a stabbing in Ojai this weekend.

Mario (Dino) Castro, 23, of Santa Paula and an unidentified passenger were driving on Citrus Drive in Ventura on Friday night when rival Santa Paula gang members began chasing them in another car, said Cindy Jaremko, Ventura police desk officer.

At least three shots hit Castro’s car but no one was injured, Jaremko said.

Witnesses who reported the shootings said both cars fled toward Santa Paula, Jaremko said.

With the help of Sgt. George Brink of the Santa Paula Police Department, officers were able to identify Castro as the victim of the shooting incident.

Castro was interviewed and said the suspects were rival Santa Paula gang members, but would not release any names to the police because he is “afraid of further retaliation,” Jaremko said. She said police are continuing their investigation without Castro’s cooperation and have seized his car as evidence.

In another gang-related incident, which occurred in Ojai on Saturday morning, a 21-year-old Ojai man was stabbed, Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Carl Schoenberger said.

At 12:25 a.m., when deputies responded to a report of people fighting with knives on Ward Way, they discovered that about 20 Ventura gang members had come uninvited to a party and that a fight had developed between one of the gang members and a party-goer, Schoenberger said.

When deputies arrived, the 100- to 150-member party was breaking up, Schoenberger said. While deputies were searching the neighborhood, they found party-goer David Hunt stabbed in the chest and back. Hunt was taken to Ojai Hospital, treated and released, Schoenberger said.

No arrests have been made.