COUNTYWIDE : Raids Lead to Arrests of 4 Teens in Slaying

A team of 42 law enforcement officials raided four homes in Anaheim and Garden Grove on Thursday, arresting two teen-agers on suspicion of the drive-by slaying of a 16-year-old Stanton youth.

Two other youths, already in custody at Juvenile Hall for an unrelated offense, were also arrested Thursday morning in the July 21 shooting death, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

The victim, Johnny Casillas Jr., was walking home to his grandmother’s house in Stanton at about 2 a.m. when a passenger in a red car opened fire on him at Oak Street and Central Avenue, authorities said. The murder of Casillas, known as an outgoing student at Anaheim’s Western High School who stayed away from violence and drugs, angered many in his neighborhood and a nearby Stanton barrio, where gangs have long feuded.

Acting on unusually candid tips by residents as well as other evidence, authorities launched simultaneous raids at 9:45 a.m. Thursday on two homes in the unincorporated area of Anaheim and two homes in Garden Grove, Olson said.

The raids, which included helicopters that hovering above the homes, were conducted by the Sheriff’s Department, Garden Grove officers and probation and parole authorities after a three-week investigation, Olson said. As many as 18 squad cars occupied the Anaheim street where two of the suspects lived.

“Everything went down like clockwork,” Olson said, adding that investigators confiscated firearms and other items that might be used as evidence.

The names of the four suspects were withheld because they are minors. Three of them are 15 and one is 14, Olson said.

“It’s amazing that they are so young,” he said, as detectives swarmed over a Garza Street home in the middle of Anaheim’s Colonia Independencia neighborhood.

One of the suspects was found sleeping in his bed on Garza Street, witnesses said. The other suspect was arrested in Garden Grove, Olson said.

Although two of the suspects were already in custody, their homes were raided so police could search for evidence. Juvenile Court Judge C. Robert Jameson issued the search warrants on Wednesday.

The two juveniles who were already in custody in Juvenile Hall were arrested on July 26 on complaints that they were carrying concealed weapons.

All four teen-agers were scheduled to appear in Juvenile Court today, Deputy District Atty. Arnie Westra said.

In the July 21 attack, Casillas was hit once in a volley of gunfire, which also riddled a parked Fiat that he tried to hide behind. He died an hour later at the hospital.

Friends and relative said he was shot by members of La Colonia gang, who live in Colonia Independencia. Although Casillas reportedly was being wooed by members of the Big Stanton gang, which frequents the area, he was not a member.

Friends and relatives theorized that his killing was in retaliation for the shooting death of 17-year-old Rosendo Ibarra on March 30 at a pay phone. Three Stanton youths have been arrested in connection with that slaying.

Relatives of Ibarra, who, was Casillas’ cousin, have acknowledged that Ibarra was associated with La Colonia.

Sheriff’s officials said that there is no evidence that Casillas was a gang member and that he may have been the victim of a random shooting by other gang members.