VENTURA : Carport Fight Leads to Fatal Shooting

A 48-year-old man was shot to death Monday at his apartment complex in east Ventura after apparently fighting with another man inside a carport.

Police found the body of Erasmo Moro after being called to the Scandia Apartments at 1021 Scandia Ave. about 9:25 a.m., where a resident had reported that two men were fighting in a carport. Seconds after the first call, police received a call from a different resident reporting gunshots.

When officers and firefighters arrived, they found Moro’s body next to a car.

Moro, an Italian national, was working legally in the country at Ameci Pizza & Pasta on Telephone Road. Using an interpreter, authorities contacted Moro’s wife and two children in the city of Lecco Como late Monday, Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said.

Police said they have no motive or suspect in the slaying. An autopsy is scheduled today.

Meanwhile, detectives are continuing to investigate the shooting of 17-year-old Christopher Walls on Thursday and the fatal shooting Saturday of 21-year-old Paul Martinez at a Motel 6. Also, on Monday morning, officers were investigating an armed robbery at a Taco Bell in Ventura.

“It’s been one crazy morning,” Ventura Lt. Steve Bowman said Monday at the scene of the shooting. “Everything’s stacking up.”

Several residents of the two-story complex said they heard two gunshots just before 9:30 a.m., followed by a car alarm ringing.

A woman who lives in a second-story apartment above the carports said she looked out her window and saw a man run through an alley between the carports. She said he had black hair and was wearing a bluish-gray jacket.

“He was a well-dressed guy,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

The woman could not see inside the carport, she said, because a tree blocks her view.

The shooting marked Ventura’s 10th homicide of the year and the 45th in the county.