Oxnard 17-Year-Old Must Face Murder Charge, Judge Decides

A 17-year-old Oxnard teen accused of killing one man and critically injuring another at a birthday party in Ventura last year must face murder and related charges, a judge decided Tuesday after a one-day preliminary hearing.

Juan Flores, a former Buena High School student, is charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the Nov. 23 shooting.

Prosecutors say Flores argued with another man and was asked to leave the party, at which point he pulled a handgun.

During a struggle for the weapon, several shots were fired and two men were hit in the chest--45-year-old Herman Charles Fields of Ventura and 23-year-old Luis Carlos Romero of Oxnard.

Fields was critically injured. The bullet that hit him is still lodged near his heart, Fields testified Tuesday.

Romero, a painter and Oxnard College student, died after being shot at close range, according to law enforcement officials.

Prosecutors say Flores fled the scene with four friends, some of whom testified during the preliminary hearing.

One friend, Daniel Rodriguez, was asked to read excerpts from a letter Flores had written to him from jail after being arrested in connection with Romero’s slaying.

Reluctantly, Rodriguez quoted a passage from the letter in which Flores says he knew that Rodriguez was not the one to “rat on him.”

Flores, who remains jailed on $250,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on April 22.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Bamieh said there appears to be no motive for the shooting other than Flores’ acting tough to impress his friends.

“We have a guy who wants to act tough and he pulls a gun and now he is liable for the consequences,” Bamieh said. “It’s sad, it really is.”