Cousins Shot in Gang Attack in Oxnard

Two Oxnard cousins were hospitalized Saturday after being shot by one or more gang members following an argument at a popular south Oxnard Mexican restaurant.

Authorities rushed Fernando and Antonio Reyes, both 21, to St. John’s Regional Medical Center following the 6 p.m. shooting outside Las Playas Mexican Restaurant. Antonio Reyes, who was shot twice in the neck and in an arm, was treated and released. Fernando Reyes was in serious condition with a gunshot wound in his chest. No other injuries were reported.

Although the incident is still under investigation, Oxnard Police Sgt. Clifton Troy said police believe that the two men, both day laborers, were targeted because they are recent immigrants.

“Some of the gangs down here, the ones who were born here, take exception to the nationals coming up here,” Troy said.

Police said the two laborers were eating at the restaurant when an argument broke out with another group of men, who authorities suspect are gang members. The group then left the restaurant in the 600 block of Hueneme Road in the Ormond Beach Center, Troy said.

But they soon returned with others and the confrontation continued. As the argument escalated, the men left the restaurant and gathered on the sidewalk outside.

Soon after, three shots were fired, striking Fernando and Antonio Reyes. Police were uncertain Saturday whether there was more than one gunman.

The incident follows a rash of muggings blamed on tension between locally born Latinos and recent immigrants, Troy said.

The muggings usually occur on weekend nights, when laborers receive and cash their paychecks, Troy said.

This incident, however, does not seem to have stemmed from an attempted robbery, Troy said.

Local residents who gathered around the crime scene said that the once crime-ridden neighborhood is less dangerous than it was in the late ‘80s, due to a stronger police presence.

The shooting took place a block away from the South Winds police neighborhood storefront, a local police base established two years ago to defuse the tension between the locals and recent immigrants.

Although residents say gang members inhabit a string of apartments behind the strip mall, none could recall a recent shooting.

In the wake of the shooting Saturday, Jesus Alaya, whose wife is a waitress at the restaurant, said he would encourage his wife to quit her job.

Irma Santos, who owns a nearby market, said the incident had rattled the nerves of merchants in the strip mall.

“Whoever did this, I hope they serve time,” Santos said. “The community needs to get together and help each other out.”