Bicyclist Kills Teen-Ager With a Shot to Chest : Simi Valley: A 19-year-old gang member is arrested in the first homicide of the year, police say.

In Simi Valley’s first homicide this year, a gun-wielding bicyclist shot and killed a teen-ager Saturday morning as the victim walked near one of the city’s busiest commercial intersections, police said.

The slaying of Armando Rodriguez, 19, of Simi Valley, just after 11:30 a.m. on 1st Street near Los Angeles Avenue appeared to have been gang-related, police and city officials said. The shooting was precipitated by an exchange of gang hand signals between the bicyclist and Rodriguez, who was walking with two companions, said Simi Valley Police Sgt. Andy McCluskey.

Shortly after 4 p.m., police arrested Victor Gabriel Ramirez, 19, of Simi Valley on suspicion of murder after he turned himself in at the Simi Valley Police Department. Ramirez was booked late Saturday into Ventura County Jail.

Police also recovered a stolen handgun believed to have been used in the attack.

Both Rodriguez and Ramirez were known local gang members, police said.

Rodriguez was shot as he and the two youths were crossing a bridge that spans the Arroyo Simi. Ramirez rode up to the three, flashed the gang signs, pulled a gun and fired a single round, police said.

Rodriguez, who was struck once in the chest, was taken by ambulance to Simi Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said. Neither of his companions was injured.

Ramirez sped east on the 10-speed bicycle, crossed a dirt field and rode in the direction of nearby Willowbrook Park, police said.

One of Rodriguez’s companions remained at the scene after the shooting, and the other fled. Police said they know their identities but declined to release them.

City officials were quick to decry the attack and to reiterate Simi Valley’s reputation as one of the nation’s safest cities. There was only one homicide in Simi Valley in 1994, and none the previous year.

“We obviously are not excited about it,” Mayor Greg Stratton said of the shooting. “This is not an accepted way of doing business in our community.”

Councilwoman Sandi Webb, a subject of recent national media attention for her outspoken criticism of gun-control laws, said the city remains safe.

“We are very safe,” said Webb, who has acknowledged that she illegally carries a gun when she visits Los Angeles. “This was gang-related . . .. The (police) chief said for sure it’s gang-related. We have had the little wanna-be gangs, . . . but they’re more your juvenile delinquent kind of group.”

Along 1st Street near Los Angeles Avenue, traffic was slow through the afternoon as drivers strained to look past police tape at the scene of the shooting.

Employees at nearby businesses said they were stunned that the incident had occurred in broad daylight near such a busy intersection.

“We just heard the ambulance and sirens, and we looked out there and they were giving him CPR,” said Yolie Severyn, owner of Trendsetters Hair Salon on 1st Street. “We thought that maybe someone had hit him (with a car) and took off.”

“Here in Simi, something like that doesn’t happen,” she added.

At the Acapulco restaurant on 1st Street, customers coming in for lunch were also incredulous.

“They were in shock,” said hostess Jillian Eade. “They couldn’t believe it happened in Simi Valley.”

Police said it was unclear what role the gang affiliations may have played in the shooting.

A youth who works at a store near the scene of the shooting said he believed Rodriguez was indeed a victim of gang conflict. He said he knew Rodriguez because they both had been involved in gang fights.

“It’s all gang-related,” said the 18-year-old, who declined to give his name. “What goes around, comes around.”

Times staff writer Julie Fields contributed to this story.