Rash of Brutal Crimes Hits Oxnard : Violence: Man is shot to death, a woman beaten and a store employee kidnaped during a robbery in five-hour stretch.

Oxnard police detectives were scrambling to solve a trio of brazen and brutal crimes that occurred over a five-hour stretch ending just before sunrise on Sunday.

Investigators were called about 6:30 a.m. Sunday to the scene of a pre-dawn robbery and kidnaping at Smith’s supermarket at the Centerpoint Mall, hours after responding to a fatal drive-by shooting a block away and an attempted murder in a South Oxnard transient motel.

No arrests were made in the three unrelated cases, police said.

“Our investigators are very busy,” Sgt. Gene Thayer said Sunday afternoon. “There was a lot that happened last night. It isn’t every night that you have a murder and an attempted murder and all that going on.”

A man in an olive-green suit, carrying a briefcase and a gun, entered Smith’s Food & Drug Center in the 2400 block of Saviers Road and herded a female store manager and another male employee toward the safe before escaping with a “substantial” amount of cash and one hostage, employees and police said.

No one was injured in the incident, but the lone robber took an unidentified employee hostage, forcing the store worker into his own vehicle. The employee was ordered out of the white Chevy Blazer at gunpoint near the Victoria Avenue off-ramp to U.S. 101, police said.

“He called 10 minutes later and said, ‘I’m OK, can you come pick me up?’ ” said a Smith’s employee, who declined to give his name.

Bill Podzimek, a Smith’s assistant manager, refused to answer questions about the robbery and kidnaping, referring all queries to the firm’s corporate offices in Utah. Telephone calls to corporate headquarters went unanswered Sunday.

Several employees said the market, which was open 24 hours a day until recently, was closed for just three hours Sunday morning. There was no staff meeting or extra safety precautions taken following the robbery, according to employees and the lone store security officer.

“I’m stunned because I wasn’t even aware of (the incident),” said Geri Duda of Oxnard, who was shopping in the market about 11 a.m. “I’ve been coming into this store since day one, so this is really scary to me.”

About five hours earlier, just a block from Smith’s in the Centerpoint Mall, a 21-year-old Oxnard man was shot dead in what police are calling a drive-by shooting with no apparent motive.

Ruben Hernandez died from multiple gunshot wounds at St. John’s Regional Medical Center after officers found him sprawled outside the Liquor Cellar in the 100 block of West Channel Islands Boulevard, police said.

“It happened at the gas station and he ran this way,” said Roy Reynoso, a clerk at Liquor Cellar. “They were over there by the phone, and he was running toward (the store) when he just dropped right there where the blood stains are.”

Police took five people into custody following the shooting, but they were released after questioning, investigators said.

“Results of those interviews are still pending, and it is unknown if any of those subjects will be charged with the shooting,” Detective Charles Dunham said.

Police would not comment further on the shooting, which occurred about 1:40 a.m.

About 4:20 a.m. Sunday at the Crystal Lodge Motel, in a blighted neighborhood on South Oxnard Boulevard, police found a severely beaten woman slumped on the floor of a dimly lit hallway.

The condition of Gwendolyn Blazer, 25, of Oxnard, was upgraded late Sunday from critical to serious, said a nursing supervisor at St. John’s Hospital. The supervisor said the woman suffered a severe beating about the face and head.

Motel residents said they were awakened by loud voices shortly after 4 a.m.

“All I heard was a bunch of fighting and a bunch of commotion,” said a neighbor, afraid of being identified. “When there’s fights going on, I don’t come out of my room.”

Motel manager Connie Williams said Blazer had lived at the Crystal Lodge but moved out earlier this year.

“There was a man involved, but (the fight) was between two women,” said Williams, who called police when she found Blazer unconscious and bleeding near the cracked and sand-filled swimming pool.

“The witnesses at the scene could only give vague information (about) the suspect,” Officer Michael Adair said in a prepared statement.

Residents were quick to explain why later Sunday.

“There’s a lot of things going on here and I don’t want to be involved,” said one woman. “It’s bad enough that we have to live here.”