VENTURA : Police Seek Help in Identifying Suspects

Ventura police, stymied in their effort to track down the killer of a widowed father of four, are asking for the public’s help in identifying suspected gang members who fled from the Cabrillo Village shooting.

Ventura Police Sgt. Bob Anderson said witnesses saw two to four possible assailants run east along the railroad tracks to an orchard near Saticoy, south of Wells and Telephone roads.

Anderson said the suspects were described as teen-age Latino males who wore the dark clothing, including cutoff pants or sweat pants, often associated with gang members.

Jose G. Gutierrez, 37, the father of a 5-year-old daughter and three teen-agers, died after a small-caliber bullet struck him in the chest on the night of Oct. 1. He was standing outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that he had led in Cabrillo Village.

His brother-in-law, Felipe Sepulveda, said the children’s mother died of cancer a few years ago, and they are now without parents.

Anderson, a supervisor of the major crimes unit, said gang members often spray gunfire into Cabrillo Village, originally built to house migrant farm workers.

“Unfortunately, we have a victim who just happened to be in the area when it happened,” he said.

In addition to the small-caliber firearm, the gunmen also peppered the area with birdshot from two shotguns, Anderson said. He said the fatal bullet appears to have been fired from about 100 feet away.

In 1991, two men were killed in the same neighborhood after leaving a party.

The Ventura Police Department recently opened a storefront station in Cabrillo Village that will help coordinate neighborhood patrol programs in the crime-riddled area. The patrols will involve police officers and community volunteers.