Youth Shot in Holdup Attempt, Police Say

The owner of an Oxnard Western wear store shot and critically wounded a 17-year-old boy who tried to rob him at gunpoint Friday, police said.

The suspect, whose name was not released, entered La Tienda Nueva at 128 E. 5th St. about 10:45 a.m. and pointed a semiautomatic handgun at owner Jose L. Morales, authorities said.

Speaking Spanish, the teen-ager ordered Morales, 36, not to move, according to his wife, Esperanza, who was mopping the front of the store at the time.

That’s when Jose Morales hit a button activating a silent alarm and pulled out his revolver, she said. Esperanza Morales said she then ran out the front door frightened and yelled for help.

She said she did not see her husband fire his gun, but heard the shots from outside the store.

Police said Jose Morales fired a revolver three times, striking the 17-year-old once in the head. The juvenile’s name was not released because he is a suspect in the robbery.

The Oxnard youth was listed in critical condition late Friday in the intensive care unit at St. John’s Regional Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman said he was on life support.

Inside the store, detectives recovered the suspect’s semiautomatic handgun and Morales’ revolver. They also confiscated a video tape from the store’s security camera. Police spokesman David Keith said the 17-year-old did not fire his gun.

Although the investigation is not complete, police are treating the shooting as justified.

“We have talked with the district attorney’s office and we will be submitting it for review,” Oxnard Police Cmdr. Tom Cady said. “At this time, though, it looks like it was justified.”

Jose Morales and his wife were questioned for more than an hour at the Oxnard Police Station, then the husband was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center for a blood test.

Cady said it is routine to check for alcohol or drugs in the system of those involved in shootings, even if they appear justified.

Esperanza Morales said she saw a second suspect enter the store at the time of the robbery, but her husband said he saw only one. Police said they were unsure whether a second suspect was involved.

Two of the shots fired by Morales passed through a low, wooden door separating the raised cashier’s booth from the rest of the store. Esperanza Morales said the 17-year-old was standing directly in front of that door when he confronted her husband.

As the store reopened at 3 p.m. Friday, workers began filing in to cash their paychecks. Esperanza Morales looked shaken as she stood behind the counter, which displayed shiny belt buckles, gold necklaces, rings and watches.

She said her husband opened their store about three years ago. Jose Morales began keeping the revolver beneath the counter after the store was robbed a year ago, she said.

“They took over $10,000,” she said of the earlier robbery.

Keith said daytime robberies in central Oxnard are unusual.

“We’ve had some problems in that area, but generally the problems are in the evening,” he said.

In September, a 26-year-old man was shot in the head during a nighttime dispute outside a restaurant just down the street from La Tienda Nueva. Alvaro Zapien Estrada was shot by unknown suspects after he apparently refused to buy them food inside El Taco De Mexico on East 5th Street.