SIMI VALLEY : Teen Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Gang Member

A Simi Valley teen-ager who has been on suicide watch since his arrest three weeks ago pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges he murdered a rival gang member in broad daylight near one of the city’s busiest intersections.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor said the motive for the slaying of Armando Rodriguez is unclear, and statements defendant Victor G. Ramirez made in the hours after the slaying do not shed any light on why it happened.

Ramirez’s arraignment had been postponed once before because he refused to speak to his attorney. Since then, Ramirez has been evaluated by a psychiatrist, who said the youth is deeply depressed and should remain on suicide watch “until he’s able to communicate a lot more freely than he is now,” Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom said.

“He’s now talking to us, so that’s a good step,” Windom said. “I think he’s just overwhelmed with the events and now is looking at the consequences of these events.”

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

His assailant rode away on a 10-speed bicycle after the shooting. Ramirez turned himself in to Simi Valley police about four hours later.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Inman said Rodriguez and Ramirez belonged to different Simi Valley gangs and knew each other, but “what the motivation for the shooting was, I can’t answer.”

Ramirez, who is in jail with bail set at $250,000, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing June 5. However, Inman said he may seek a grand jury indictment instead of holding the preliminary hearing.