SAN CLEMENTE : Gang Member Is Sought in Murder

Police have obtained an arrest warrant for a reputed San Juan Capistrano gang member in the murder of Roman C. Calvillo, 26, of San Clemente during a Nov. 18 fight outside the Great Wall restaurant in Pico Plaza.

The warrant was issued for Juan Jose Ramirez, 19, who police say is a member of the San Juan Boys gang, in the shooting death of Calvillo. Police say Ramirez, a longtime resident of San Juan Capistrano who attended Marco F. Forster Junior High School there, has fled to the Mexico City area to avoid arrest.

“Ramirez was identified by witnesses at the scene as the man with the gun,” Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow said. “It is my understanding that there could have been as many as six shots fired, one of them inside the restaurant, or as few as two.”

Calvillo was shot during a late-night brawl between two gangs that began during a dance at the Chinese restaurant and spilled outside into an adjoining parking lot. Police said Calvillo was a member of San Clemente’s Varrio Chico gang, although his brother claimed he had cooled his gang activities shortly before the shooting.

The restaurant has discontinued its Saturday night dances with Latin bands, police said.

On the night of Dec. 6, however, someone touched off a fire just outside the restaurant by igniting some spilled gasoline on a wall on the northeast side of the building just off the street. After a passerby called from a pay phone to alert authorities to the blaze, it was quickly extinguished, police said.

“The wall was scorched, but no real damage was done to the building,” Ehlow said. “But we have no idea if that incident was related to the shooting.”

Otherwise, “things have been quiet” between the two gangs, Ehlow said.

“I was told that the word on the street is that both are trying to lay low,” Ehlow said. “Of course, the traditional thing for many of these guys is to go home for the holidays. Maybe that has helped us out.”