7 Adults, Boy Arrested in Teen’s Slaying

Eight members and associates of a west Ventura gang have been arrested on suspicion of killing an 18-year-old man by beating him with a bat and shovel and stabbing him several times during a fight over a loud party in September, authorities said Tuesday.

The suspects were taken into custody Monday and Tuesday after a team of officers from several law enforcement agencies served search warrants at 11 residences in Ventura, authorities said.

Seven adults, including a married couple, were jailed on $500,000 bail and a 14-year-old boy was being held without bail at Juvenile Hall.

Authorities won’t say who inflicted the fatal blows to William Scott Zara on Sept. 25, but detectives plan to ask prosecutors to charge all of the suspects with the killing.

“Everybody’s actions led to his death,” Ventura Police Lt. Gary McCaskill said. “This couldn’t have happened without their involvement. All of these people are responsible and will be held accountable.”

Zara’s father, Sam Zara, said Tuesday afternoon he was relieved arrests had been made in his son’s slaying and hopes everyone involved is punished.

“They all did it. Not just one person, all of them,” Zara said during an interview at his Ojai residence. “It’s brutal to think that people held him down while others kicked and beat him.”

Prosecutors said Tuesday they will study whether the suspects can be charged under the 1988 Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, which makes it a crime for a gang member or an associate of a gang to help fellow gang members commit a felony.

William Zara, who worked part time at the Ventura Theater, was attacked Sept. 25 by a group of neighbors in front of his small apartment in the 300 block of East Warner Street off Ventura Avenue, authorities said.

Police believe an angry group of people partying across the street came after Zara because they believed he had called authorities to complain about noise. Police said Zara had not called authorities that night.

McCaskill said before Zara was attacked officers had come to the home of Frank and Rosana Olvera to respond to a noise complaint. When they arrived, officers said, they saw several people at the home but issued no citations.

“They tell us they’re not having a party but that it might be the victim,” McCaskill said. Officers also went to Zara’s home but did not find any problems, the lieutenant said.

Shortly before 10 p.m., after the officers had left the neighborhood, Rosana Olvera went to Zara’s home and accused him of calling the police, authorities said.

Olvera, who along with her husband are considered gang associates, then asked several gang members to join her in front of Zara’s home, authorities said.

Several members of the gang and others allegedly attacked Zara, who had armed himself with a baseball bat when the mob arrived, authorities said.

Zara was struck on the head with his own bat and beaten with a shovel that had been taken away from one Zara’s neighbors, who was trying to defend Zara, police said.

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Zara was also stabbed several times with a knife and punched and kicked repeatedly, authorities said. He died the next day from massive head injuries, according to the coroner’s office.

McCaskill said six of Zara’s neighbors were beaten while trying to help defend Zara.

Police recovered a bat and a bloody shovel at the scene but have not found the knife. McCaskill said the shovel was being analyzed at a lab to determine whether it was used in the beating.

Immediately after the attack, police said, Frank Olvera, 33, and gang member Terry Schell, 22, were arrested. They were later released for a lack of evidence but then rearrested Monday, authorities said.

Authorities alleged that Olvera and Schell led the attack on Zara.

Also arrested were Rosana Olvera, 36, and gang members Dagoberto Davila, 23; Chris Gonzales, 22; Mario Jaquez, 19, and David Silva, 24, all of Ventura. The name of the 14-year-old boy was not released, but authorities said he is a member of the same gang.

The gang allegedly involved in the attack is one of the city’s oldest, having been around for more than 25 years. The gang is based on Ventura Avenue and includes about 100 active members, many of whom have prior criminal convictions for murder, robbery and assault, police said.

Prosecutors were expected to decide today or Thursday what charges to file and will consider filing murder charges against all the suspects, they said.

Under state law, a gang member or gang associate who “promotes, furthers or assists” in felony behavior committed by members of the same gang can be charged with the felony being committed and an enhancement that increases the penalties.

Promoting felony behavior can include cheering and encouraging a gang member to commit a crime, prosecutors said.

A gang member or associate charged with the enhancement of committing criminal street gang activity can spend an additional one to three years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Haney said.

“Over the last three or four years the case law has developed in a way that has allowed us to use this routinely, especially any time a crime is committed for the benefit of or in association with a criminal street gang,” Haney said.

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Such an enhancement can also be filed alone as a charge against a gang member. For instance, a gang member riding in the back seat of a car used during a drive-by shooting can be charged with criminal street gang activity and be sentenced to a minimum of 16 months in jail.

“It has proven to be a very powerful tool against street crime,” Haney said.

Robert Pugsley, a professor of criminal law at Southwestern University in Los Angeles, said similar laws used by prosecutors to stop gang members from loitering have withstood legal challenges by defense attorneys.

“The clear purpose is to enable ordinary citizens to reclaim their streets and neighborhoods--to be able to go outside without fear of getting caught in the gang cross-fire while at the same time preserving the unquestionable 1st Amendment rights of gang members who are, after all, citizens,” Pugsley said.

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Times staff writer Tina Dirmann contributed to this story.