Mother of 4 Is Killed by Bullet Fired in Gang War

As Virginia Mexia looked out her dining room window, alarmed by the sound of gunshots outside, the Canoga Park mother of four was struck in the face and killed early Saturday morning by a bullet fired from warring gangs, police said.

Also shot was Paul Hoy Chou, 22, who was standing outside Mexia’s apartment complex in the 8700 block of De Soto Avenue during a gun battle between Latino and Asian gang members, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Terry McBride said.

Chou, who was shot in the eye, was in stable but serious condition at West Valley Hospital in Canoga Park. Police would not say whether he was involved in the altercation.

Saturday afternoon, police arrested Stuardo Saenz, 20, on suspicion of murder in Mexia’s death. Investigators had recovered a gun and were seeking other suspects Saturday, Detective Ken Crocker said.

Shortly after 1 a.m, police were summoned to the De Soto Gardens apartment complex by residents who heard the shots. But officers arrived too late to help Mexia. They found the 33-year-old department store clerk lying dead in the dining room of her second-story apartment. Her two young boys were home at the time, said Mexia’s sister, Susan Valenzuela, 31.

Mexia was described by her sister as a family woman who doted on her children. She had spent a pleasant family evening Friday at their mother’s home and had left before other family members, eager to be home when her two teen-age daughters returned from a movie. Her husband, David, had gone to his sister’s home, Valenzuela said.

“She was in a real good mood, but she wanted to be home before her daughters came home,” Valenzuela said. Their mother had given Mexia a perm, her sister said.

“She went to the dining room window to see who was fighting and then she was shot,” said Rachel Valenzuela, 38, another sister.

About 10 Latinos and three Asians, all of whom were either gang members or associates of gang members, were involved in the confrontation, Crocker said.

“This is a problem area,” he said. “You have drugs, you have gangs, a little bit of everything. You can’t walk in there without seeing the graffiti.”

Neighbors said the area is plagued with violence. Graffiti mar most buildings. Similar crime in a nearby Canoga Park neighborhood led police to erect blockades there Friday night.

On Saturday, workers painted over the graffiti on Mexia’s sprawling apartment complex, a collection of gray stucco buildings.

Several residents of the complex said that gang members used to hang around a bench beneath Mexia’s apartment, playing loud music and talking until late at night.

“It got so bad that the manager . . . removed the bench,” said one neighbor.

But neighbors and her sisters said that Mexia, who had lived with her family in the complex for about three years, seldom complained about the gang activity, although her children shunned gangs.

“You hear about this happening on the news all the time,” Susan Valenzuela said as she stood near the apartment Saturday morning. “But you just don’t think it can happen to you. It’s so sad that something like this can happen with someone so close.”

Times staff writer Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story.