Teen-Ager Charged With Murder in Stabbing of Boy, 16

The district attorney’s office filed murder charges Monday against a 17-year-old Ventura gang member in connection with the stabbing death last month of a youth near Camino Real Park in Ventura.

The teen-ager has been charged with murder and use of a deadly weapon in the May 3 slaying of 16-year-old Jose Lopez Navarro of Port Hueneme, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes said. He was arrested Monday afternoon at Juvenile Hall, where he was in custody on charges unrelated to the slaying, Ventura Police Sgt. Bob Anderson said.

Arraignment of the youth, whose name was not released because he is a minor, is scheduled for this morning in Ventura County Superior Court, Holmes said. One of the issues that the court will decide is whether he should be tried as a juvenile or an adult, he said.

Under state criminal law, the teen-ager could face a longer prison sentence upon conviction if he is tried as an adult.

News of the arrest brought relief to residents who live near Camino Real Park, a large, open recreation area surrounded on three sides by quiet residential neighborhoods. After the slaying, homeowners said they were concerned that the park was turning into a late-night gathering spot for local gangs.

“It’s great that they caught him,” said one resident of Dean Drive, a street immediately next to the park. “But I’m afraid that concern about the parties and action at the park will just die down until something else happens,” she said.

Navarro was stabbed about 1:40 a.m. after he and five friends were involved in an altercation with another group of youths near the Dean Drive entrance to Camino Real Park, police said. Anderson, who interviewed more than 50 people during the course of the monthlong homicide investigation, said he is still unsure what provoked the confrontation.

“These things happen very easily,” Anderson said. “Violence erupts and there is no reason for it. It was a senseless killing.”

Police have not recovered a weapon, which Anderson called a crucial piece of evidence in the slaying. “There’s still hope it will turn up,” he said.

Navarro was a ninth-grader at Hueneme High School. His family denied that he was a gang member, although police said he was with members of an Oxnard gang at the time of the killing.

The teen-ager charged with murder is a junior at Ventura High School, Anderson said. The youth has a criminal record and is a member of the Ventura Avenue Gangsters, Anderson said. The detective did not know what previous offenses the juvenile has faced.

“You can watch these kids come up through this mind-set over the years, and this is the unfortunate culmination of it,” Anderson said.