OXNARD : Man, 23, Shot to Death in His Apartment

A 23-year-old man was shot and killed in his south Oxnard apartment Tuesday morning, police said.

Thurman Lamar Jackson was discovered dead by his girlfriend at 9:55 a.m., police said. He had been shot once in the head.

Police cordoned off the area around the dilapidated apartment in the 500 block of Cuesta Del Mar shortly after 10 a.m. hoping to collect evidence.

But by the time they left the scene Tuesday afternoon, they had more questions than answers, police said.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Oxnard Police Sgt. Charles Dunham said.

According to Dunham, police found no sign of a break-in or struggle. Nor did they find the weapon used or any obvious motive.

Outside the apartment, Jackson’s friends and family stood by, waiting for any information that could help them understand why he had been killed.

“He didn’t bother nobody over here,” said Shawanna Carrington, a longtime friend of Jackson. “This is just senseless.”

Jackson’s sister, Wanda Ellison, wept as medical examiners carried the body from the apartment. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “Why did this happen?”

According to neighbors, Jackson had recently moved into the neighborhood. He was still recovering from a March 5 fight during which he was shot in the abdomen.

“We have not reached the point where we can say if the two incidents were connected,” Dunham said.

“I just helped him move some couches into the apartment the other day,” said Derrek Ward, 27, of Oxnard. “He wasn’t bothering anybody. This is crazy.”

Jackson is survived by Ellison, his mother, Alice Jackson, and three young children.