California IN BRIEF : VENTURA : Guilty Verdict in Drive-By Killings

A Ventura gang member was found guilty Wednesday of killing two Saticoy men and wounding two others in a drive-by shooting last spring. A Ventura County Superior Court jury deliberated two days before finding Edward (Tony) Throop, 18, guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, use of a weapon and inflicting great bodily injury, and one count of conspiracy. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7. Prosecutors have said that Throop, a member of the Ventura Avenue Gangsters, committed the murders because he and Vincent Medrano, 16, of Ventura, held a grudge against a Saticoy gang known as the Campos. Medrano is scheduled to go to trial this morning on murder charges. The two trials are part of a growing string of gang-related cases dominating the criminal courts in Ventura County.