10 Arrested in Anti-Gang Sweep After Shootings : Crime: Multi-agency strike force invades west county cities, netting offenders, weapons and, possibly, evidence in attacks. A father of four was slain in one incident.

In response to a series of gang-related shootings that left a Ventura man dead and three others wounded, a law-enforcement strike force arrested 10 people Friday during an early-morning sweep through west Ventura County.

The pre-dawn raids also netted several weapons, including a handgun and two illegal knives, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. Seventeen teams of five officers each hit 23 houses in Ventura, Santa Paula, Saticoy, Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

Of the 10 people arrested, three were juveniles.

Sheriff’s investigators hope that the arrests and evidence gathered during the gang sweep will produce new information about two shootings earlier this month.

In one of those shootings, a 37-year-old father of four was gunned down Oct. 1 in the east Ventura community of Cabrillo Village as he was walking home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Ventura police say Jose G. Gutierrez was the innocent victim of gang warfare.

And a week ago, a shootout between rival gang members in a Saticoy neighborhood sent three people to area hospitals with gunshot wounds.

Friday’s crackdown represented the first major operation for the sheriff’s newly formed gang suppression unit, said Sgt. Ken Warren, who heads the 2-month-old enforcement team.

“We decided that we had seen enough, that we had better get on it right away,” Warren said. “I know there is some good evidence there. Hopefully, there will be some link to these incidents.”

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Since Gutierrez was killed, Ventura police have established a storefront station in Cabrillo Village. And Lucio and Josefina Gutierrez have struggled to cope with their loss.

Jose Gutierrez died after a small-caliber bullet pierced his heart. His wife died of cancer a few years ago, and now their four children--ages 5 to 18--have been orphaned.

“He didn’t have any enemies, he was a very peaceful person,” a grieving Josefina Gutierrez said Friday. “He was innocent in all of this.”

Police said gang members fired on Cabrillo Village with a handgun and two shotguns, and that Gutierrez happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gang members from outside the area often spray the community with gunfire, police and residents said.

Gutierrez said she was pleased to know that law-enforcement officers were searching Friday for her son’s killers.

“I think it will be very hard to find them,” she said. “But they have to do something. They can’t let this happen again.”

At 6:30 a.m. Friday, the countywide multi-agency gang suppression strike force went to work. Armed with arrest warrants and probation search teams, officers raided homes of suspected gang members and their associates.

Many of those arrested were picked up on warrants. While Sheriff’s Department officials would not say why the warrants were issued, they did say that most involved outstanding traffic matters.

Among the adults arrested were: Michael Centeno, 18, of Ventura for possession of a concealed weapon; Gilbert Garcia, 23, of Ventura for warrants; Phillip Cabral, 29, of Ventura for warrants; Ramon Arrellano, 21, of Saticoy for violating probation.

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Others arrested were David Sibrian, 35, of Ventura for warrants; Albert Gaona, 30, of Saticoy for warrants; and Alfred Mendez, 20, of Port Hueneme for warrants. Sheriff’s deputies also arrested two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old for violating probation.

More than 100 law-enforcement personnel--including members of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Ventura County district attorney’s office and police agencies throughout the county--participated in the sweep.

Similar sweeps have been conducted throughout Ventura County since 1992, as part of a regional push by area police agencies to confront the growing strength of street gangs.

In addition to the cities visited Friday, the raids also have been conducted in Thousand Oaks and Fillmore. And as in Friday’s operation, the sweeps often are in response to shootings, stabbings and other violent gang-related acts.

The rise in gang crime prompted the Sheriff’s Department to create its anti-gang unit two months ago, Warren said.

In the sheriff’s jurisdiction alone in recent years, drive-by shootings by youth gangs have tripled and gang weapon assaults have doubled.

“We want the community to know that we are tired of these gang members doing these things,” said Warren, who has been traveling to Southern California cities to learn how their gang units work.

“I mean, my Lord, we are sitting out here in the Garden of Eden compared to them,” Warren said. “But we need to make the effort now. I don’t want that coming here.”