OXNARD : Robbery Suspect Seriously Wounded

An Oxnard robbery suspect who was accidentally shot by one of his accomplices as they fled angry convenience store clerks was in serious condition Monday and three others were in jail on suspicion of armed robbery, police said.

Yair Vasquez, 18, of Oxnard was shot in the head by an accomplice aiming at clerks who were pursuing them Sunday night, police said. Vasquez was recovering Monday at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

He and three others were arrested after two Oxnard 7-Eleven stores were robbed of beer at gunpoint, police said.

The first robbery occurred about 9:45 p.m. Sunday at a 7-Eleven at Channel Islands Boulevard and El Dorado Avenue, police said. Officers responding to the robbery were told that the suspects were seen leaving in a blue Cadillac, heading east on Channel Islands Boulevard.

Officers went to another 7-Eleven in the 2000 block of Pleasant Valley Road in anticipation that the suspects were on their way to commit another robbery. When the officers arrived at the convenience store, about a mile away from the first one, they noticed a blue Cadillac parked nearby.

Police said the men stole the beer and were chased to their car by two clerks. They saw several people fighting near the car, and then heard a shot fired near the Cadillac, which then sped away on Beaumont Avenue. Police stopped the car and arrested the youths, including a 15-year-old Oxnard juvenile whose name was withheld because of his age.

Jesse Andrade, 19, and Manuel Aguilera, 18, both of Oxnard, were being held on $250,000 bail each at Ventura County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and robbery, authorities said. They were scheduled to be arraigned today. The juvenile was being held at Juvenile Hall.