Simi Valley Teen-Ager Charged With Murder

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Simi Valley teen-ager with murder in connection with the apparent gang-related slaying of Armando Rodriguez, the young man gunned down Saturday as he walked near one of the city’s busiest intersections.

Nineteen-year-old Victor Gabriel Ramirez sat with his head hung low during a hearing in Ventura County Municipal Court.

He stood only after Judge John E. Dobroth ordered him to do so. A defense attorney for the man, whose only other brush with the law as an adult was for stealing beer, said Ramirez is under suicide watch at the County Jail.

Ramirez is in deep depression and has declined to speak with representatives from the public defender’s office, said Gary Windom, a deputy public defender.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of not cooperating,” Windom said. “I think it’s a matter of depression.”

The judge granted Windom’s request to put off Tuesday’s scheduled arraignment until April 12 so the attorney could learn more about the charge against Ramirez.

Rodriguez, 19, was shot once in the chest just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday as he and two youths were crossing a bridge that spans the Arroyo Simi. The incident occurred on 1st Street near Los Angeles Avenue.

Rodriguez and Ramirez apparently had been feuding for the past several years, authorities said.

Police said Ramirez rode up to Rodriguez on a 10-speed bicycle, flashed gang signs and fired the single round as he rode away. After the shooting, Ramirez sped east on the bike, crossed a dirt field and rode in the direction of nearby Willowbrook Park, they said.

About four hours later, he turned himself in at the Simi Valley Police Department, but did not make a confession, Police Lt. Dick Thomas said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Inman declined to say if prosecutors will seek a first-degree murder conviction.

Friends have said that Ramirez shot Rodriguez because he felt Rodriguez had bullied him. But Inman said shooting an unarmed man is inexcusable, even if Ramirez had been feeling harassed.

“It is not a reason to drive up to anyone on a bike and shoot them,” Inman said outside court, adding that the prosecution could seek a first-degree murder conviction if evidence shows that Ramirez “sought out” Rodriguez with the loaded handgun.

Windom said his office wants to determine what strategy to take in the defense of Ramirez. Windom said he asked a jail psychologist to have a talk with Ramirez because the defendant is on suicide watch and in solitude.

Windom said he had no other information on Ramirez. Court records show that Ramirez was placed on three years’ probation in October for stealing $31.18 worth of beer from a Simi Valley Thrifty Gas Mart a month earlier. The store also was spray-painted with gang graffiti during the incident, which involved three other people.

Simi Valley police have expressed concerned about possible attempts at retaliation over Rodriguez’s death. Prosecutors said Ramirez and Rodriguez belonged to rival gangs.

To head off any further violence, special operations officers have stepped up their gang-suppression efforts in the west end of Simi Valley, where many of the city’s gang members live, Thomas said.

They also will be patrolling areas where gang members are known to congregate, such as Rancho Community Park and Mountain Gate Plaza.

Times staff writer Mack Reed contributed to this story.