SANTA PAULA : Man Held in Fatal Halloween Shooting

Santa Paula police have arrested a suspect in the slaying of an 18-year-old man outside a Halloween party.

John Julian Lopez, 19, was arrested Friday night at a Santa Paula residence, police said. They said Lopez is a suspect in the killing of Joey Lara, who was shot twice in the back after leaving the party Oct. 31.

Lopez was carrying a .38-caliber handgun and was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was arrested, police said. He was being held at County Jail on $250,000 bail.

The chief investigator, Detective Sgt. Gary Marshall, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Earlier, however, Marshall said police believed that Lara, a known gang member, had been shot in retaliation for the Sept. 23 slaying of a rival gang member, Richard Gutierrez, 20. Lara belonged to the Crazy Boyz gang while Gutierrez was affiliated with a gang known as the Bad Boys, police said.

Police did not disclose whether Lopez belonged to either gang, but they said he was in the company of several known gang members when he was arrested.

Lara’s family disputed the police theory, although they acknowledged that Lara was a gang member. They said Lara was shot after he went to the aid of a friend during a fistfight in the yard of McKevett Elementary School on Pleasant Street, across from the party.

But Marshall said the gunman who shot Lara may have been lying in wait outside the party and may have taken advantage of the fistfight to start shooting.

The two killings are the only ones recorded in Santa Paula this year, police said.