2 Are Sought in Slaying at Westminster Soccer Field
Police were still looking Monday for two brothers suspected of an execution-style shooting of an opposing player on the field following a hard-played soccer game last weekend.
Homicide Det. Richard Mize said investigators are hampered by an absence of leads. They don’t even know where the suspects, brothers Henry, 23, and Arnoldo Lopez, 21, live.
According to police, Florencio Venegas, 36, was lying on the grass, relaxing with family members and teammates after Saturday’s tie game at McGarvin Intermediate School, when two men approached and shot him once in the torso and several times in the head.
“Mr. Venegas never got up. He was killed execution style,” Mize said. “These guys are considered armed and dangerous. They had no reservations about killing someone in front of little children.”
Investigators say they believe the killing resulted from a blow during the game between Venegas and Henry Lopez when both were battling for the ball.
Interamericana Soccer League President Edgar Vazquez said Venegas accidentally hit Henry Lopez in the face with his elbow. Venegas received a yellow card for the play and finished the game without another warning. Vazquez said that Henry Lopez threatened Venegas after the incident.
“But nobody took it seriously. We all say things we don’t mean during a game,” Vazquez said.
Investigators are not sure about the extent of the injuries suffered by Henry Lopez, but Vazquez said that his jaw was broken.
Gloria Lopez, whose husband is Venegas’ nephew, said, “Everything happened in an instant. The two men approached and fired three times.” One of the men removed a handgun from under his white T-shirt and fired without speaking, she said.
Venegas played for a team called Impi, whose players are mostly from Mexico. Henry and Arnoldo Lopez played for a team called Velie Circuit and put together mostly with Salvadoran players.
Impi won the league championship in 1995, and Velie Circuit were champions in 1996. While the teams are rivals on the field, league officials do not believe that nationalistic fervor played a role in the shooting.
League officials said the Lopez brothers lived in Los Angeles but are believed to have moved to Santa Ana recently. The men, who have long ties to the Orange County-based league, failed to include an address and telephone number when they filled in their league registration cards.
“We are in shock by this,” Vazquez said. “It is the first killing in the six-year history of our league. We’re doing everything we can to cooperate with police so they can catch the killers.”
Family members said that Venegas, who lived in Lynwood with a nephew, arrived from Guadalajara, Mexico, seven months ago. He recently had gotten a job in construction, Gloria Lopez said, and was sending money to his family in Mexico. He left a wife and three children ranging in age from 3 to 5.
The family has asked for contributions to pay for the cost of shipping Venegas’ body to Guadalajara and for funeral expenses. Contributions can be sent in Venegas’ name to St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, 4311 Olanda St., Lynwood, CA 90262.
