OXNARD : Man Shot in Head, Critically Wounded

A 26-year-old Oxnard man was critically wounded from a gunshot to the head early Monday, capping a weekend of unrelated violence across the city, police said.

Alvaro Zapien Estrada was listed in critical condition at St. John’s Regional Medical Center late Monday, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Sgt. Charles Dunham said Estrada was being kept on life support systems. He was in surgery late Monday, a nursing supervisor said.

Estrada was shot while sitting in the back seat of a car leaving El Taco De Mexico in the 200 block of East 5th Street around 2 a.m. Monday.

Dunham said details of the shooting were sketchy, but it appeared that Estrada and some friends had eaten at the restaurant. They walked outside where they had words with another group of people, Dunham said.

Estrada and his friends were driving away from the restaurant when the shot struck Estrada in the back of the head. He was driven to the hospital by his friends.

Dunham said it does not appear that anyone in the victim’s car returned fire or had a weapon. Police have no motive for the shooting and no suspects.

“It’s not looking good at this point,” Dunham said of the investigation. Meanwhile, Oxnard detectives are continuing to investigate three separate violent incidents from the weekend, including a fatal drive-by shooting early Sunday.

Five people were questioned by detectives in the slaying of 21-year-old Ruben Hernandez, but they were all released and no arrests have been made.

“There’s nothing they can be held on, and in fact there’s nothing which would cause us to believe that they are responsible,” Dunham said.

Detectives are also still investigating the severe beating of 25-year-old Gwendolyn Blazer at the Crystal Lodge Motel in Oxnard and a kidnaping and robbery that occurred at Smith’s Food & Drug Center in the Centerpoint Mall.