Simi Raid Nets 6 Amid Memory of Tragedy in Oxnard

A dawn police sweep across Simi Valley ended successfully Thursday with the arrest of six gang suspects.

But it began with the prayers of a chaplain, called in to bless the officers the day after a west county drug raid was marred by the tragic shooting of an Oxnard SWAT officer by his own sergeant.

Before Thursday’s gang sweep, 30 police and probation officers gathered somberly in the Simi Valley Police Department briefing room. With badges blacked out in mourning and body armor bulging beneath their raid jackets, they bowed their heads.

Chaplain Frank Witman asked God’s blessing and reminded the group of “the need to reflect with prayer and thanksgiving that we’re all surrounded by each other and have strength in each other.”

Witman asked them to pray for the families of slain Officer James Rex Jensen Jr. and of Sgt. Daniel Christian, who in the smoky confusion of a predawn raid Wednesday accidentally shot Jensen to death.

Then with crisp precision, the officers from Simi Valley, county probation, state parole and LAPD and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies rolled out across the city in cruisers and undercover cars.

At precisely 6 a.m., five six-officer teams knocked on five doors. They swiftly arrested four alleged gang members suspected of severely bludgeoning a rival two weeks ago.

Two additional suspects were picked up within the next hour on other charges.

And a short time later, police and probation officers searched the homes of 18 former gang members, who must agree in advance to such searches as a condition of their probation. Officers found no contraband--such as drugs, paraphernalia, gang writings or graffiti tools--in the probationers’ homes, said Supervising Deputy Probation Officer John Hooper.

“Overall, I think it was very successful,” said Lt. Dick Thomas, head of Simi Valley’s Special Enforcement Section. “Particularly when we recognize that the detectives identified five suspects in a beating on March 1 . . . and we were successful in taking into custody four out of the five.”

Members of one gang had attacked a 16-year-old rival with another gang outside the Brunswick Bowling Alley that day, police said.

They beat the victim badly with baseball bats and metal bars, causing brain swelling and other injuries that landed him in the hospital.

On Thursday morning, police arrested Rosario Acosta, 19, and three 17-year-old boys in connection with that beating. Acosta was booked into the Ventura County Jail, while the teens were locked up at Ventura County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, said Simi Valley Police Lt. Tony Harper.

Police also arrested Juan Alvarenta, 18, on a misdemeanor warrant. And they arrested a 16-year-old boy for questioning about his possible involvement in an Oct. 21, 1995, drive-by shooting on Apricot Road that police believe was gang-related.

Each team of four cops and one probation officer parked away from a target’s house, then walked up quietly to the door and windows of each suspect’s home.

With guns drawn, they knocked on the front door, announced they were police, then quickly moved inside to arrest the suspect when someone inside opened the door.

One boy emerged from a house on Ashland Avenue with officers holding his cuffed hands behind his back, his feet barely shoved into his sneakers, blinking blearily in the chilly dawn. The officers gently pushed down on his head so he would not strike it getting into the patrol car.

But as the officers worked, they were thinking of Jensen’s death, said Police Chief Randy Adams.

“We couldn’t help but have that on our minds,” he said. “But I don’t believe that changed the way they handled themselves other than the fact that they try to plan and exercise caution and care whenever they do these gang sweeps.”

A November sweep netted nine suspected gang members, eight of whom were illegal immigrants now facing deportation.

Thursday’s was the third such operation in Simi Valley in the last two years.

“This will not be the last gang sweep by any stretch of the imagination,” Adams said later. “I think it is good to tell the gang members of this city that if they get involved in gang activity, we’re going to pull out all the stops to apprehend those responsible.”