Teen Pleads Guilty in Slaying of Gang Member : Courts: Attorney says the shot was meant as a warning. Victor G. Ramirez of Simi Valley will be sentenced July 28.

A Simi Valley teen-ager pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday, three months after he rode his 10-speed bike past a rival gang member and fired a fatal bullet into his chest.

After Victor G. Ramirez’s plea, his lawyer said the youth never intended to kill Armando Rodriguez, 19, who was shot April 1 while crossing a bridge that spans the Arroyo Simi. Instead, Ramirez intended the single shot as a warning to the victim, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom said.

The shooting, Simi Valley’s first homicide of the year, touched off several other violent gang confrontations in the city.

Ramirez, a slender, dark-haired 19-year-old, faces a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years to life for murder and up to an additional 10 years for using a firearm.

Sentencing before acting Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz is set for July 28.

Outside court, Ramirez’s attorney said the plea gives his client a chance of making parole in about 15 years. If he had been convicted of first-degree murder, Ramirez would have faced a 25-year-to-life prison sentence for the murder alone.

And that was a chance Ramirez was unwilling to take, Windom said.

Windom said Ramirez has no other criminal record. The lawyer will petition the judge to sentence his client to the California Youth Authority until age 25. That would give Ramirez a chance at rehabilitation before being sent to the adult prison system, Windom said.

“He’s so young,” said Windom after the plea. “Even though he has gang affiliations, he’s never been arrested for anything before.”

For the first time, Windom also gave Ramirez’s version of events that precipitated the shooting. He said Ramirez and the victim had engaged in fisticuffs two weeks earlier.

On the day of the shooting, Ramirez was riding his bike on 1st Street near Los Angeles Avenue when he saw Rodriguez walking with two other teen-agers. Windom said that Ramirez fired a “warning shot” at Rodriguez after seeing one of the other youths flash what he thought were gang signs in his direction.

“He thought they were saying, ‘Why are you in this area?’ and he reacted,” Windom said. “It’s really tragic for everyone involved.”

At a preliminary hearing earlier this month, one of the uninjured youths said he only waved hello to the defendant.

After the shooting, Ramirez sped east on the bike, crossed a dirt field and rode away. According to testimony, he then went to a friend’s house, told the friend that he had shot someone, but that he was confused as to why he had done it. He turned himself in to police four hours after the incident.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Roger Inman, who is prosecuting Ramirez, said police investigated reports that Ramirez and Rodriguez had fought several weeks before the shooting but were unable to confirm them.

Told of Windom’s comments about a fight between the two, Inman said, “That’s news to me.”

But the prosecutor said it was clear to him that Ramirez shot Rodriguez without provocation.

After evaluating the case against Ramirez, prosecutors determined that the defendant was guilty of second-degree murder, meaning they believe he should have known the likely result of shooting at Rodriguez.

They did not believe they could prove the murder was premeditated, which would make it first-degree, Inman said.

“From my point of view, he pled guilty to exactly what the crime is,” Inman said.