4 Gang-Related Slayings Unsolved After a Year

A year after an outbreak of violence left five people dead and triggered an unusual gang truce, four of the slayings remain unsolved.

Police say a wall of silence among gang members has stymied the investigations into the gang-related murders of four men.

Three suspects are awaiting trial in the Oct. 12, 1998, murder of German tourist Horst Fietze during a robbery attempt near the beach. Authorities have concluded that his slaying was not gang-related.

Santa Monica Police spokesman Lt. Gary Gallinot said the four other cases remain under investigation.

In last year’s shootings, Omar Sevilla, 21, was killed Oct. 12 near 6th Street and Pico Boulevard; Juan Martin Campos, 28 was shot Oct. 28 at Pico and 20th Street; and brothers Anthony Juarez, 18, and Michael Juarez, 27, were killed Oct. 27 on Lincoln Boulevard.

Five other people were wounded in shootings during the three-week period. Gang factions from Santa Monica and nearby Mar Vista reached a truce Oct. 29, 1998.

The violence jolted Santa Monica, which had recorded only one homicide in the previous year. Candlelight peace vigils were held and police borrowed a Pasadena Police Department helicopter to patrol the beach city.

A reward of $45,000 was issued for information into the deaths of the Juarez brothers.

Gallinot said last year’s killings were an anomaly. So far this year Santa Monica has recorded one homicide, he said.