1 Killed, 1 Wounded in Gunfight

A predawn gunfight involving gang members left a 17-year-old Oxnard boy dead and a Santa Paula man wounded Wednesday in a quiet residential neighborhood, authorities said.

Ruben Escobedo was pronounced dead at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital after receiving a single gunshot wound to his neck that severed a major artery, police said.

Manlio Escamilla, 21, received a gunshot wound to the leg from a small caliber handgun, police said. On parole for a 1995 robbery, Escamilla was treated at the hospital and released early Wednesday, police said.

Authorities have not made any arrests.

A witness said a bullet in the cross-fire came close to an 8-year-old boy who was sleeping in the duplex next door to the Salas Street driveway where the 3 a.m. shooting occurred.

“When I heard the gunshots, I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs to grab my son,” Robert Buenrostro said. He said a bullet pierced the wall about a foot above a window next to where his son was asleep on a couch.

Buenrostro, who has lived in the duplex three years, said he has never had any problems with neighbors.

Although police are uncertain about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, they said they pieced together portions of what occurred.

“Based on a review of the physical evidence . . . Escobedo may have come to the scene armed with a shotgun and fired a round toward the group” of about eight people in the driveway, Santa Paula Police Cmdr. Mark Hanson said.

“There was a return of gunfire from the [driveway] as well as other gunfire from [directly] across the street,” Hanson said.

The incident does not appear to be drug- or gang-related, but authorities are still investigating, Hanson said.

Two unidentified female friends of Escobedo told authorities that he wanted to visit friends at the Salas Street residence. The friends said they dropped him off on the corner and then parked a block away.

They said they heard gunfire about 10 minutes later and saw Escobedo stagger from the sidewalk toward their car. They said they drove him to the hospital.

Hanson said police have not determined why Escobedo, who had recently moved to Oxnard from Santa Paula, wanted to make the visit. Hanson said witnesses reported hearing a loud argument before the shooting.

“He basically bled [to death] between here and the hospital,” Hanson said. “He was hurting--if you follow the blood trail it meandered and zig-zagged up the street.”

Police believe that in addition to the shotgun, at least two other handguns were involved, though no weapons have been recovered.

Buckshot peppered the mailbox in front of the duplex and also hit a ficus tree behind it and Buenrostro’s Dodge Caravan. Police also said they found .25-caliber and .32-caliber shell casings in the duplex driveway and in a bordering gutter.

A second trail of blood from the driveway to one of the two adjoining duplexes led police to Escamilla, who told police he was running up the driveway when he was shot.

A former Police Department gang expert said Escobedo and Escamilla are both Santa Paula gang members, but said it was unclear whether they were members of the same or rival gangs.

Escamilla was sentenced in 1996 to four years in prison for armed robbery, but was released on Christmas Eve last year, according to officials from the state Department of Corrections. Escamilla is still on parole for that 1995 robbery, in which he and four other gang members stole a high-powered rifle and crossbow from an Oxnard man’s home during a party.

Earlier in 1995, Escamilla and four other men were arrested--but not prosecuted--for allegedly beating and robbing a man at knifepoint in Santa Paula.

Salas is a duplex-lined street that is usually full of children playing, but on Wednesday afternoon not a single child was outside.

“I don’t think there will be any kids out here for a while,” said Virginia Gomez, who has lived the past eight years in a duplex two doors from the shooting scene. “I am very worried that something might happen to the little children who play out here. They will be the ones who will get a stray bullet.

“It’s scary, very scary,” said Gomez, who was awakened by the gunfire. “I don’t even want to go out anymore.”

Homicide is the leading cause of death for youths in California. Every 17 hours another person under 19 in the state is killed, according to a California Department of Justice report.

When the Santa Paula shooting occurred, Ramiro Montoya was asleep with his wife and three children directly across the street. Police said they believe someone may have even fired a handgun from his driveway.

“I don’t like these problems this near to my house,” he said. “My family is very scared. I will never let my children be out of my sight.”

Times staff writer Scott Hadly contributed to this story.