Parents of Slain Teenager Plead for Youth Violence to Stop

News that police Wednesday had arrested two suspected Port Hueneme gang members in connection with the beating death last month of 17-year-old Jaime Morales did little to comfort his parents, who fear there is no swift end to the youth violence plaguing the city.

“To be honest, all I want is for the killing to stop,” said 69-year-old Jesus Morales, who wears a black ribbon pinned to his shirt in memory of his son. “It [arresting two suspects] makes me feel a little better, I guess, that they are not going to be doing any more wrong, at least for now.”

During an early morning raid on four houses, Oxnard police arrested Terrence Brumfield, 18, and Fred Williams Jr., 20, in connection with the July 25 slaying of Morales in south Oxnard. They were booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of murder and are each being held on $500,000 bail.

Authorities are searching for a third suspect--20-year-old Oxnard resident Donald Brown Jr.

“We were finally able to get enough information from witnesses to implicate these three . . .,” said David Keith, an Oxnard Police Department spokesman.

Although Morales was Latino and the suspects are African American, Keith said investigators do not believe the crime was racially motivated.

“We think it is more gang-related,” Keith said. “Sometimes the two kinds of crime blur together. We don’t know how much race entered into it.”

Morales, a former gang member on the mend who was near finishing high school and had plans to attend college, was beaten to death by three men swinging baseball bats, according to witnesses.

David Mora, a 16-year-old Oxnard resident, was injured in the attack that occurred in an alley near the intersection of N Street and South Hill Street nearly three weeks ago.

Maria Elena Morales, Jaime’s mother, said she cannot understand why anybody would have killed her son, praised shortly before his death by a Ventura County judge for his efforts to stay out of trouble.

“There were no motives,” said the 51-year-old Oxnard resident in Spanish. “Why did they do this? Jaime didn’t have any enemies.”

The death marked Oxnard’s sixth gang-related homicide since January, police said. Jesus Morales and other south Oxnard residents say the teenager’s slaying has heightened tensions in the community.

During a candlelight vigil for Morales a day after the beating, several of his friends kicked an African American teenager who was passing by the service.

Two African American teenagers from Oxnard--19-year-old Travon Miller and 16-year-old Derrick Parks--were injured a week later in a shooting that police said could have been in retaliation for Morales’ slaying.

As a way to honor his son and urge youngsters to stop hurting each other, Jesus Morales plans within the coming weeks to jump out of a plane and sky-dive over Oxnard.

“Hopefully, I will get a chance to talk to all these homies,” said Morales, who gained experience skydiving while serving in the Army during World War II. “ ‘Use your heads,’ I will say. ‘Be united.’ ”

While Morales makes those plans, police are asking for anyone with information on Brown, the third suspect in the case, to call Det. Mike Palmieri at 385-7688 or 385-8255. Callers may remain anonymous, police said.

Religious leaders and members of the community plan to gather tonight at St. Paul Baptist Church on C Street in Oxnard for a summit on youth violence.