OXNARD : No Charges in Fatal Shooting at House

The Ventura County district attorney’s office announced Friday that it will not press charges against an Oxnard man who fatally shot two teen-agers in June. The man had fired blindly through the drapes of his bedroom window at party-goers who broke the window while fighting on his front lawn.

The district attorney’s investigation concluded that Raymond Thomas, 42, shot Matthew Garcia, 18, and Ruben Lara, 19, because he thought his house was under attack and he feared for the safety of his wife and daughter, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson said.

“The Thomas family awoke to the sounds of people pounding on their wall and their front window. . . . They were afraid to go near the window to investigate further since that is where the sounds of violence came from,” Nelson said.

“Believing they were under attack and hearing cries to ‘kill him . . . kill him,’ Mr. Thomas armed himself with a .22-caliber rifle. . . . Mr. Thomas acted under a mistake of fact and consequently without any criminal intent when he shot out the window,” she said.

Neither Thomas nor the victims’ families could be reached for comment.

Nelson said Thomas was devastated when he discovered what had happened.

“He is heartbroken,” Nelson said. “He is a parent, and he knows the two young men were just getting started with their lives.”