Man Fatally Shoots Friend in Apparent Accident, Police Say : Oxnard: A 25th birthday party at which people had been drinking and admiring weapons turns deadly as a handgun goes off during some playful wrestling.

An Oxnard man celebrating his 25th birthday shot and killed a 20-year-old friend Wednesday after they began drinking and playing with two of his handguns during a party, authorities said.

Christopher Nishimura was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Gregory Anderson, a close friend of his for about four years, police said. Police said the shooting was probably accidental.

Nishimura was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail in Ventura County Jail, a jail spokesman said. Nishimura also had several traffic warrants from Contra Costa County in Northern California, the spokesman said.

Anderson died at 9:35 p.m. Wednesday of a gunshot wound to the chest, the coroner’s office said.

It was the first accidental shooting death in Ventura County this year and the 13th homicide in the county in 1990, coroner’s investigator Mitchael Breese said.

Anderson, described by friends as easygoing and popular, was attending a party at the apartment of Nishimura, who turned 25 Thursday, when the shooting occurred, authorities said.

The celebration at Nishimura’s two-bedroom apartment in the 1000 block of Patterson Road began when Nishimura, an auto mechanic, got off work about 5:30 p.m., police said.

Party-goers drank for a couple of hours, said Detective Dan Christian of the Oxnard Police Department.

Five people were at the apartment when some in the group apparently began admiring several of Nishimura’s handguns, police said.

Anderson and Nishimura started playfully wrestling with the weapons in their hands, police Sgt. Jeff Young said.

Nishimura was holding a .41-caliber gun, one of the larger caliber handguns available for purchase, when the shot was fired about 7:30 p.m., Young said.

Police, fire and ambulance workers were called immediately, Young said.

When they responded, they found Anderson suffering from a gunshot wound that had passed through his arm and entered his upper body, Young said.

Rescue and Fire Department personnel treated Anderson and then took him to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, where he later died, Young said.

Nishimura was taken to police headquarters for questioning and arrested, Christian said. Christian said he was unable to release Nishimura’s blood-alcohol level. The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Nishimura’s family said Thursday that they could not comment on Nishimura or the events of the party.

Several of the friends gathered Thursday evening to reminisce about Anderson.

Robby Lyons, 20, of Oxnard was with Nishimura and Anderson when they started playing with the guns. The shooting was “a freak accident,” he said.

He said the two were loading and unloading the guns as they played with them, going so far as to cock them.

They would point them at each other and say things such as, “Hey, what’s up,” Lyons said. The two also kept bumping into each other in a mock display of machismo, Lyons said.

Lyons said he had turned away from the pair and was sipping a drink when he heard the shot.

“Greg was saying, ‘Call 911,’ ” Lyons said. “It didn’t look that bad. I just saw a hole in his arm, and I thought he would live.”

Lyons’ girlfriend, Shosheana Southerland, 17, of Oxnard said she was downstairs when she heard the shot but thought it was the sound of something falling. She called 911 when the boys yelled out what had happened.

Lyons then left to get Anderson’s father and his girlfriend, Malaika Brown, 18, of Oxnard.

Anderson’s father, Don Anderson, said Thursday evening that his son, who lived with him in the 1300 block of Astoria Place, had always had many friends. “He was even fun for me to have around,” Don Anderson said. “I liked having him around.”

Don Anderson said his other son Doug, 23, had died of AIDS in December. Anderson is survived by a sister Laura, 22.

Gregory Anderson graduated from Oxnard High School and had been working in the hardware department of Home Depot on Victoria Avenue in Oxnard for about seven months, friends said.

He was hoping to get a management position, Brown said.

Brown, who spoke through tears, said, “He was like a little boy, always wanting to play and always smiling. He was a goofy guy.”

She said Gregory Anderson had visited his brother’s grave that morning, which he did rarely.

Jess Ortiz, 22, who lived across the street from the Andersons, said he, Nishimura and Gregory Anderson enjoyed going four-wheel driving together.

He said Gregory Anderson and Nishimura met when both worked as mechanics at a Chevron station in Oxnard.

At one point, Gregory Anderson was broke and couldn’t afford tires for the red Volkswagen he was making a hobby of rebuilding. Nishimura bought two new tires for him, Ortiz said.

“He never did anyone wrong,” Ortiz said. “I’ll always think of him.

“I loved him.”