Oxnard Man Hospitalized After Beating Dies

An Oxnard man who was hospitalized in critical condition after being beaten last weekend has died, authorities said Tuesday.

Raymond Sanchez, 22, had been kept alive by a life support machine at Ventura County Medical Center after he was attacked by a group of young men with bats and sticks, authorities said.

Sanchez’s family had life support removed Tuesday, and he died at 2 p.m., said coroner’s investigator Jim Wingate.

Sanchez and a friend, Jose Gonzales, 19, were standing in front of Sanchez’s house in the 5400 block of Cypress Road when they were approached late Saturday by several other men, police said.

Sanchez and Gonzales fled after the group of men challenged them to a fight, police said.

The assailants caught up to the pair and attacked them, police said.

Sanchez suffered major head trauma, Wingate said. Gonzales was treated at an Oxnard hospital for a minor head wound.

There had been no arrests in the case by late Tuesday, police said.

Sanchez, who worked in Oxnard’s strawberry fields, is survived by his wife, Maela Lopez Sanchez. Funeral arrangements had not yet been made. An autopsy was scheduled for today.