Motive Sought in Woman’s Slaying : Violence: Mina Castaneda of Oxnard was allegedly shot on a quiet Santa Paula street by her husband, who is being held by police.

Police on Sunday were trying to determine what started a violent argument that resulted in an Oxnard man allegedly shooting his wife dead on the sidewalk of a quiet Santa Paula street.

Santa Paula police were called about 9 p.m. Saturday to the 200 block of Wakeford Avenue on the city’s west side with a report that a woman had been shot, according to Cmdr. Robert Gonzales.

When officers arrived, they found Mina Castaneda, 24, on the sidewalk outside a corner house near Wakeford Avenue and Bradley Street; she had a single gunshot wound to the head. She died a short while later at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, Gonzales said.

About an hour later, police arrested Jose Santos Castaneda, 25, in connection with the shooting death of his wife. The location of his arrest was not immediately available.

“He was arrested without a struggle,” Santa Paula Police Agent Troyce Reynolds said. “We know this was a domestic dispute, but exactly what sparked this violence we still don’t know.”

Reynolds said the couple were apparently visiting friends when the violence erupted.

Late Sunday afternoon, with the blood-stained sidewalk serving as a reminder of the previous night’s violence, neighbors said the incident was unusual for the tree-lined street.

One resident, who declined to give his name, said he heard the single shot and ran outside to see what had happened. He tried to stop Castaneda’s bleeding while others performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“I was trying to put pressure on the wound, but I could tell it wasn’t going to help,” he said. “I could tell she was going. Something like this is a real shock. I would have never expected anything like this on this street.”

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But according to Jamie Leigh, executive director of the Ventura County Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the fact that the incident took place in public was “somewhat rare” but such violence is unfortunately all too common.

“I can’t point to any particular set of statistics, but certainly over the last couple of years, we are hearing more and more cases like this,” she said.

Castaneda was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of homicide. He remained in custody Sunday in lieu of $250,000 bail.