Man Is Slain in Gang Shootout at Party : Thousand Oaks: Showdown continues at hospital. Woman is hit, paralyzed, at her birthday bash.

A gunfight between rival gangs erupted during a birthday party in a quiet Thousand Oaks neighborhood just before midnight Saturday, leaving one teen-ager dead and three wounded, sheriff’s deputies said.

The brawl spilled over from a back-yard patio on Fordham Avenue to the parking lot of Los Robles Regional Medical Center, where keyed-up gang members confronted and threatened one another, witnesses said. About 40 sheriff’s deputies were sent to the hospital to prevent further violence.

Miguel Flores, 18, of Camarillo, was pronounced dead on arrival at Los Robles from a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said.

Caught in the cross-fire, Celena Mendoza, 19, of Thousand Oaks, was hit in the right shoulder and suffered a spinal injury and collapsed lung. She was listed in critical condition at Los Robles on Sunday, paralyzed from the waist down. Mendoza was one of two people the party was being held for.

A 16-year-old boy from Thousand Oaks, shot in the leg, was listed in fair condition at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills with a fractured thigh bone. The other victim, 19-year-old Marcos Lopez of Saticoy, was treated for a gunshot wound to the left leg and released early Sunday, police said.

One suspect was under arrest for suspicion of murder Sunday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Department announced. He was identified as a 16-year-old Thousand Oaks boy whose name was not revealed because of his age.

The gang-related violence shocked residents of the 1400 block of Fordham Avenue, a peaceful cul-de-sac lined with well-tended bungalows. The homicide also shocked politicians in Thousand Oaks, which annually is ranked one of the nation’s safest cities in FBI statistics.

“No one wants to think that a city regarded as one of the safest has this kind of problem,” Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski said. “But we have to take gangs here very seriously.”

Thousand Oaks reported one murder each of the past two years, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The 1992 homicide was a gang-related drive-by shooting on Houston Drive which took the life of 20-year-old Jennifer Jordan.

“This is certainly one of the worst gang-related incidents the city has seen,” Sgt. Bruce Watlington said. “It’s just getting worse and worse as time goes on.”

Minutes after officers were summoned to the street, several dozen deputies were dispatched to Los Robles to quell any further violence among those who had taken the victims to the emergency room.

Sheriff’s deputies identified 30 to 40 gang members, from three different groups, in the hospital’s parking lot. Witnesses said they included members of the Barry Street gang in Camarillo and the Houston Hoods and TOCAS (Thousand Oaks California Sur) from Thousand Oaks.

“It could have gotten really ugly, but fortunately there was a high profile with the deputies there,” Sgt. Pat Buckley said. “Many of the (gang members) had been drinking heavily and emotions were high.”

One hospital employee who would not give her name said such a scene was unusual for Thousand Oaks.

“There were lots of people here, and the sheriffs . . . held them back while the patients were being treated, but there was no altercation,” the woman said.

The midnight gunfight and tense confrontation later at the hospital horrified teen-agers who had attended the birthday party. They said they had taken every precaution to make sure the celebration would not get out of control.

Tim Mendoza, the brother of shooting-victim Celena, said he and a friend frisked every one of the approximately 60 guests for weapons. But toward the end of the party, when he had stopped guarding the front door, several young men who he said belonged to a Camarillo gang showed up in a brown Cadillac.

“They must have snuck the guns in, and it just got out of hand,” Mendoza, 23, said as he sat in the intensive care unit’s waiting room, hoping to see his sister.

The violence started with an altercation in the back yard over nothing in particular, according to witnesses.

“You know how gangs are, they were just saying this and that,” Mendoza said. “No one came to do it on purpose. Everyone was having a good time until it got crazy. We kept everything cool until the very end, when all hell broke loose.”

Friends and relatives of Flores were shocked at news of his death. He is survived by his parents and five brothers and sisters.

“It’s a big surprise,” said his sister, Roselia. “I don’t remember him being in any trouble. He was always helpful, always trying to give someone else a hand.”

Flores said her brother was excited about having recently started working at Hi-Temp Insulation in Camarillo.

“He was a good person to me,” said Carlos Martinez, a friend of the victim. “He was real happy because he just started a new job a couple of months ago. He hadn’t been hanging out with the boys. He was working hard and just partying on the weekends.”

Ricky Padron, who said he had known Flores for four years, denied that Flores was involved with gangs and said he attended church on Sundays.

“It was just something that happened (because of) people going to Thousand Oaks from a different town,” Padron said.

The Camarillo teen-agers, who showed up shortly before midnight, had been invited to the party, witnesses said.

Celena Mendoza had friends in the group, and had asked them to the party on the condition that they “respect” her and enjoy the celebration without making trouble, said the party’s hostess, Valerie Varley, who will turn 18 next week.

Witnesses said Celena Mendoza, who turns 20 tomorrow, was shot when she stepped in front of a friend to protect him from a rival gang member, who was brandishing a gun.

“She was begging the guy not to shoot her, saying ‘Don’t disrespect me,’ ” said Rebecca Garcia, a friend who saw the fight.

Friends and family described Mendoza as fun-loving and upbeat, noting that she was always the first on the dance floor. But she was also hard-working, they said, and had just saved enough money from her job at a music store to buy a new car. She was expecting to graduate from the Conejo Valley continuation high school this summer, they said.

“We were all friends--it just got out of hand,” Erin Androvich, 16, said, shaking her head over the chaotic gunfight. “Everyone was so excited for the party because we never have parties in Thousand Oaks.”

Eager to make sure the birthday celebration went smoothly, Valerie Varley went door-to-door Saturday afternoon asking neighbors if they would object to her playing music until midnight.

Her father, Gerald Varley, was home during the party, and said he was stunned when the dancing was interrupted by gunshots and screams.

“Everything had been calm,” he said. “We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Although they described the Thousand Oaks and Camarillo gangs as long-time rivals, teen-agers at the party said they did not expect retaliation. After the confrontation at the hospital, Tim Mendoza said he tried to make peace with members of the group who allegedly shot his sister.

Neighbors, while stunned at the shootout, said they felt confident it was an isolated incident. They could not recall any previous gang-related violence in their area.

“It’s not a common thing around here, and I think the police will nip this in the bud,” said Kathy Shotwell, a longtime Thousand Oaks resident who moved to the street in December.

Sgt. Watlington said deputies would pay “closer attention” to the Fordham Avenue neighborhood as a result of the shooting.

Times correspondent Jeff McDonald contributed to this story.