Boy, 16, Convicted of Slaying Teen at Mall

Jurors found an Oxnard youth guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at the city’s Centerpoint Mall nearly a year ago.

James Manuel Moreno, 16, was tried as an adult for shooting Felipe Hernandez of Oxnard once in the chest in the breezeway of Mervyn’s department store Jan. 25.

Moreno, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, faces 25 years to life in prison, plus an additional 10 years for using a firearm to kill Hernandez. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31.

Moreno’s attorney, John Klopfenstein, could not be reached for comment.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison, who prosecuted the case, said he was pleased by the trial’s outcome.

“I think it was an excellent verdict by the jury,” Ellison said.

“This was an outrageous shooting that occurred.”

Hernandez had been living in Oxnard for less than a year after moving from Mexico when he was gunned down in front of shoppers in broad daylight after getting into an argument with Moreno and two other alleged gang members, who have not been charged.

After the shooting, police said the confrontation may have been a case of mistaken identity because Hernandez was wearing a baseball cap that could be perceived as claiming an affiliation with a rival gang. Hernandez was not a gang member.