Charges Dismissed in Ventura Beach Shootout : Gangs: A Santa Paula youth is the third defendant in the case to go free. A fourth is scheduled for arraignment next week.

Prosecutors trying to pin down who was involved in a gang shootout at a crowded Ventura beach hit another snag Friday when they dismissed charges against a 17-year-old youth they once believed had wielded one of the guns.

The Santa Paula youth is the third defendant in the case to go free--another juvenile was acquitted by a judge and the grand jury refused to indict an adult.

A fourth defendant, Alejandro Garcia, 19, of Santa Paula is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday.

“We’ve had all kinds of problems that really shouldn’t have occurred,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim G. Gibbons, who is handling portions of the case involving the adult suspects.

Gibbons said prosecutors have strong evidence against the person believed to have started the shooting, but so far they have been unable to build a case against the person who returned fire.

“I have an opinion (who did it), but I may never be able to prove it because some of the evidence is inadmissible,” Gibbons said.

The shootout occurred on an August morning in the midst of as many as 200 sunbathers near Ventura Harbor’s south jetty. Police said the trouble began after Garcia arrived at the beach with some friends and spotted rival Santa Paula gang members.

During the confrontation, two groups fired shots at each other from about 100 yards, officials said.

Last month the grand jury indicted Garcia on a variety of charges, including assault with a firearm, after hearing evidence that he started the shooting. That same jury, however, refused to indict Ramiro E. Montano, 20, of Santa Paula as the person who shot back at Garcia.

The grand jury’s decision prompted the district attorney’s office to dismiss a charge of shooting with gross negligence that it had filed against Montano.

After that happened, attention focused on the 17-year-old suspect because there was some evidence at the grand jury hearing that he was the one who shot back at Garcia, officials said.

Prosecutors are convinced now that is not true.

“New information leads us to believe (the teen-ager) is not the shooter,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia J. Kelliher, supervisor of her office’s juvenile prosecution unit.

Kelliher would not disclose what that information is, but Gibbons said it involves witness statements as opposed to physical evidence.

Gibbons said the fact that as many as 200 people witnessed all or part of the incident has not helped prosecutors pin down who the second shooter was.

“Most of (the sunbathers) were far away; many of them were in fact ducking for cover; many people had their view blocked by sand dunes or the jetty,” he said. “And then there’s also the normal and common problem that when two people see the same thing they tell it differently.

“Sometimes we don’t know ourselves exactly what happened . . . and so we have to sort it out.”

Attorney Robert I. Schwartz, who represented the 17-year-old, said he was pleased prosecutors investigated the case thoroughly enough to eliminate his client as a suspect.

“I think they have a reasonable doubt as to who was the shooter, and I commend them for not going forward when they have a reasonable doubt,” Schwartz said.

The youth, whose name is being withheld because of his age, has no prior criminal record, Schwartz said. However, both he and Montano belong to the same Santa Paula gang, Gibbons said.

Also charged at one time in the case was a 16-year-old boy who was with Garcia, Gibbons said. He was charged with aiding and abetting the shooting, but the charge was dismissed by a judge Aug. 30 following a Juvenile Court trial.