Man, 2 Teenagers Held in Slaying at Centerpoint Mall

Anxious to bring suspects in the city’s recent gang-related slayings to justice, police arrested an Oxnard man and two teenagers Friday for their suspected roles in last week’s fatal shooting of Felipe Hernandez at the Centerpoint Mall.

Victor Raul Aguilar, 22, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of murder Friday. According to court records, Aguilar has been arrested at least 16 times--mostly for minor violations--since turning 18, and has been convicted of as many misdemeanors.

Two other suspects, a 15-year-old and 16-year-old, were taken to juvenile hall. Police do not think that others were involved in the slaying.

Aguilar was arrested more than a month ago on auto theft charges but released pending a hearing. He has spent more than 400 days in jail since 1991 and violated terms of his probations numerous times, court records show.

Police suspect Hernandez died after being shot at by the three alleged gang members. Hernandez--who was not a gang member--was confronted by the three suspects just outside the mall, possibly because he was wearing a baseball hat that some gangs view as insignia, police said.

Friday’s arrests are part of a massive campaign by the Police Department to solve five homicides committed last month. Detectives are working long hours to solve the cases and have had their days off indefinitely suspended, Cmdr. Joe Munoz said.

Police arrested Oxnard resident Douglas Wickham, 46, Tuesday on suspicion of killing J. Bert Deck, 32, Monday, and leaving his body in a roadside ditch. That same day, Luis Magana, 15, was fatally shot by gang members as he rode in a car in north Oxnard. Jesus S. Onofre, 22, and Manuel Encarnacion, 28, were killed in Durley Park on New Year’s Day.

Police are still following dozens of leads in the killing of Magana, who was buried Friday at Santa Clara Cemetery.

But the investigation into the New Year’s Day slayings has been stymied because a relative who witnessed the crime would not cooperate with detectives and has since fled to Mexico, police said.

Chief Harold Hurtt credited Friday’s arrests to community involvement.

“Without the community’s support, we would not have gotten the information we needed,” Hurtt said.

Police narrowed their investigation of Hernandez’s death after the names and descriptions of the three suspects kept surfacing during interviews with witnesses and calls from anonymous sources.

Police served a warrant on the 15-year-old and brought him to the station. The youth admitted his involvement in the slaying during several hours of interviews with detectives and was subsequently arrested, police said. A search of his home did not turn up the gun used to kill Hernandez. Police said they are still looking for the weapon.

The other two suspects were arrested hours later after witnesses identified them. Police arrested the 16-year-old at home and Aguilar in his car.

“Any gang member who commits a violent crime will become our No. 1 priority and we’ll use all our resources to arrest him,” a defiant Hurtt said Friday.

Standing beside his cousin’s casket, Fred Magana had more words of advice for gang members and their families.

“Together we must stop the violence,” he said. “Today it was our family and tomorrow it could be someone else’s.”

Times correspondents Paul Elias and Eric Wahlgren contributed to this report