Man Who Vowed Never to Be Taken Alive Is Arrested

A heavily tattooed gang member, who swore he would never be taken alive by police investigating the killing of a rival gang member, offered no resistance to officers who found him watching “I Love Lucy” reruns on TV, police said Wednesday.

Ralph “Cartoon” Aragon, 22, was booked on suspicion of murder Tuesday and was being held in the Burbank Jail without bail, said Burbank Police Lt. Don Brown.

Brown said police had heard Aragon--a two-striker who was paroled from state prison on an armed robbery conviction three months ago--planned to shoot it out if officers found him.

“He had threatened that he would not be taken alive,” Brown said.

But Aragon offered no resistance when he was tracked down Tuesday at a residence in the 6000 block of Burwood Avenue in Highland Park.

“He wimped out,” Brown said. “He was just sitting there watching ‘I Love Lucy’ reruns.”

Aragon allegedly shot Vicente “Beaver” Gonzalez at the Buena Vista Motel in the 2200 block of North Buena Vista Street shortly after midnight March 1. Gonzalez, 21, who police said was a member of another gang, died of bullet wounds at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.

At the time of the shooting, Brown said, three separate parties were in progress at the motel, including two hosted by the rival gangs.

Gang members squared off after they learned of each other’s presence at the motel, which Brown said is a longtime hangout for drug dealers, gangs and drug addicts. Threats eventually led to fighting with fists, thrown bottles and finally a burst from a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol allegedly held by Aragon. Gonzalez was hit and fell as he tried to run from Aragon on an open balcony in full view of partygoers and customers at a nearby Jack In the Box, Brown said.

“The victim went down and [Aragon] went over and calmly put one in the back of his head,” Brown said.

“I killed your homeboy,” Aragon called out, according to witnesses’ statements to police.

Based on those accounts, the Burbank Police Special Response Team and Los Angeles police detectives began a countywide search for Aragon. Their job was made more difficult, Brown said, by relatives, friends and fellow gang members who refused to cooperate with police or who lied about Aragon’s whereabouts.

When Aragon was found, police recovered evidence that he had been planning to flee the state in the next hour, Brown said.

Two of Aragon’s friends were arrested on suspicion of harboring him in their home, Brown said.

Aragon is scheduled to be arraigned in Burbank Municipal Court today.