Man Slain in 1st Fatal Drive-By in Santa Paula : Crime: The victim had just been released from jail. Police fear retaliation in the shooting that authorities believe is gang-related.

A 20-year-old Santa Paula man was killed a few hours after he was released from jail, in what police say is the city’s first fatal drive-by shooting.

Richard Brian Gutierrez died of gunshot wounds at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, said Ventura County Deputy Coroner Craig Stephens.

Police said Gutierrez was released from the Ventura County Jail about four hours before the gang-related shooting, which occurred about 8:30 p.m. on Santa Barbara Street east of Palm Avenue.

Gutierrez was arrested last week for allegedly violating his probation by associating with people he wasn’t supposed to, said Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher.

Authorities said Gutierrez was on probation for a felony conviction of conspiracy to commit a crime. Court records also show he was convicted on minor traffic violations and a petty theft charge. Gutierrez was in jail for about a week before he was released.

Santa Paula Police Cmdr. Bob Gonzales said Gutierrez was not a gang member but had friends who were members of the city’s Bad Boys gang.

Police said they have some suspects, but no one was in custody Thursday evening. Detectives said members from a rival gang known as the Crazy Boyz may be involved and fear retaliation.

Gutierrez’s girlfriend, Annette Chavez, said he was in a good mood when she picked him up at the jail Wednesday afternoon. He planned to get a job soon, she said.

“He was happy because he just got out. The first thing he wanted was a cigarette,” Chavez said.

On Thursday, near tears and clutching a sweat shirt that had belonged to her boyfriend, she recalled the details that led up to the shooting.

After she picked him up, they cruised around Ventura and Santa Paula for a few hours and then picked up Richard Venegas, a friend of Gutierrez, she said.

Venegas, 17, and Chavez, 18, both of Santa Paula, were with Gutierrez when the shooting occurred, police said.

The shooting occurred right after the trio pulled over “so they could go to the bathroom in the bushes,” said Chavez, who added that she didn’t realize a truck had pulled up until she heard shots.

Six or seven bullets were fired from two or three guns, police said.

Witness Victor Saenz said he saw a small dark-colored truck speeding north on Palm Avenue after he heard the first shots and said someone fired about three or four shots at the truck from about a block away. He said he saw only one person in the truck.

Investigators suspect that one of the three may have returned fire, but Chavez said they were unarmed.

Gutierrez was hit once by a small-caliber slug that passed through his arm and into his chest, police said. Chavez and Venegas were not injured.

“I didn’t even realize he was hurt,” Chavez said. “Then he said, ‘I can’t drive, babe. I can’t move.’ ”

Chavez drove Gutierrez to Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, where he died about an hour later in the emergency room, authorities said.