OXNARD : Boy Held in Fatal Shooting Near Store

An Oxnard boy has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting a man who unsuccessfully attempted to buy him beer at an Oxnard convenience store, police said.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested after an Oxnard patrol officer spotted a car that matched witnesses’ descriptions of one seen at the store at the time of the shooting, Sgt. Denny Phillips said.

Moises Cerna Silva, 26, a former resident of Oxnard, was shot in the head a little after 2 a.m. Saturday after trying to buy the suspect and two other teen-agers some beer. Silva died Saturday night at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

Silva and two cousins had pulled up to the convenience store at Wooley Road and South C Street just before 2 a.m. and were approached by three juveniles between the ages of 15 and 17. The teen-agers asked Silva and his cousins to buy them beer. After reluctantly agreeing to make the purchase, Silva entered the store but was told that he could not buy alcohol after 2 a.m., Phillips said.

Silva returned the money that he had been given for the beer and as he tried to get into his car, a handgun was fired three times, with one of the shots striking Silva in the head, police said.