THOUSAND OAKS : Landscaper Fatally Shot at Exclusive Development

A landscaping foreman arriving for work in an exclusive residential community just north of Thousand Oaks was gunned down early Friday by four men who may have been waiting for him, authorities and witnesses said.

Jose Villafuerte Flores, 25, of Simi Valley was driving toward a parking area used by maintenance workers in the Lexington Hills development about 6:15 a.m. when the men approached in a red compact car and blocked his path, investigators said. One of the men got out of the car and fired several shots at Flores through the open driver’s side window, investigators said.

Co-workers who reported hearing as many as six shots rushed to Flores’ aid and found that he had been struck three times, said Bruce Leland, manager of L & W Landscape Services, where Flores had worked for between one and two years.

“We have no idea who these guys were, what they wanted,” said Leland, who arrived shortly after the shooting. “It was very obvious that he was who they wanted.”

Evidence at the scene indicated that Flores tried to back away from his assailants along the narrow road leading to the staff parking lot.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Senior Deputy Tom Bennett said the reverse lights on Flores’ car were on when the vehicle was found. A portion of the wood fencing separating the road from a horse trail was broken where the victim’s car had slammed into it.

Flores was rushed to Pleasant Valley Hospital by co-workers, where he was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest at 6:45 a.m., said Zelmira Isaac, Ventura County deputy coroner. She said that Flores lives with several siblings in Simi Valley and that his parents live in Mexico.

Authorities said late Friday that they had not found a motive for the attack, but family members said it might have stemmed from an altercation Flores had with a gang member during a birthday party for one of his nieces Saturday.

According to Ignacio Flores, one of the victim’s brothers, Jose had stopped a gang member from fighting with another party-goer at the family’s home in Simi Valley. “Maybe that guy, he talked to other guys and they shot him; that is what we think,” Flores said.

Flores said the family is trying to borrow money to take Jose’s body to Mexico for burial. “We feel very sad; we miss him,” he said. “He was very happy and young and alive.”