OXNARD : Bystander Caught in Shootout Dies
A shootout between suspected gang members has claimed Ventura County’s first homicide victim of the year, a 33-year-old Oxnard man caught in the cross-fire behind his home, authorities said Wednesday.
Manuel Martinez Contreras died Tuesday evening at St. John’s Regional Medical Center from a gunshot wound to the face that he suffered one week ago.
A 14-year-old Oxnard boy was arrested in the shooting in the 500 block of Cuesta del Mar Drive, and police are still searching for at least one other suspect.
Detectives on Wednesday took their case against the 14-year-old to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file charges. The youth is being held in Juvenile Hall.
Police have called Contreras an innocent victim, saying he had no connection to the suspects.
Contreras was struck just after dark on Feb. 1 as he unloaded items from his car in the alley behind his apartment complex at 514 S. Cuesta del Mar. The street runs through the heart of the Southwinds neighborhood, an area notorious for drugs, prostitution and violence.
Another bystander in the alley, 35-year-old Frances Mandriguez Ayala, received a minor wound in the thigh. She refused hospital treatment.
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