5th Suspect Held in Slaying at Motel

Police have arrested a fifth suspect in connection with the fatal shooting of a Whittier man at a Ventura motel in December, authorities said.

Alfonso Serrato Cortez, 21, was taken into custody Thursday and booked into County Jail on suspicion of acting as an accessory to the Dec. 18 murder of 21-year-old Paul Martinez at the Motel 6 on Johnson Drive, police said.

Cortez, of Port Hueneme, was released on $5,000 bail and is expected to be charged by the district attorney’s office on Thursday, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy, who is handling the case.

Three other suspects were charged with murder last Thursday, and a woman was charged with being an accessory to the crime for trying to help cover up the slaying, prosecutors said.

All three murder suspects are being held in jail in lieu of $1 million bail, and the woman is being held on $250,000 bail, prosecutors said.

Martinez went to Motel 6 the night of the shooting with a friend from Los Angeles and a group of people from Santa Paula, police said. The shooting occurred after an encounter with a group of people from Oxnard and Port Hueneme that included gang members.

Authorities have said that at least two gunmen opened fire from inside their cars in the motel’s parking lot. Martinez was shot and killed as he stood on the second-story walkway.