Teen Accused of Pointing Gun at 2 Mall Shoppers

An 18-year-old Ventura man was arrested Monday after allegedly pointing a loaded gun at two shoppers inside the Buenaventura Mall and then leading police on a foot chase, authorities said.

Guillermo Garcia was booked into the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of possessing a loaded .32-caliber revolver and resisting arrest after the 11:30 a.m. incident at 3400 Telegraph Road, said Ventura Police Officer Jack Ortega.

Police are also investigating Garcia in connection with an assault Saturday in which three Oxnard gang members were shot at several times as they ran from a rival gang member on a crowded sidewalk in the 10000 block of Telephone Road, Ortega said. No one was injured in that incident.

In Monday’s case, two men told a mall security officer that a man had pointed a gun at them and then walked off. Mall security workers alerted police, who found Garcia trying to board a city bus outside the mall near a Thrifty store.

Ortega said that he grabbed a backpack Garcia had on but that Garcia freed himself and took off on foot. Garcia allegedly threw a gun on the sidewalk before being tackled by Officer Rick Payne. A gun was recovered during the arrest.

Ortega, who is in his first year on the force, said he scraped his right arm when he fell during the foot chase.

The victims left the mall before being interviewed by police, Ortega said.