Homicides Rise Slightly to 26 in County This Year

Gang shootings in Oxnard and Newbury Park helped push homicide rates up slightly this year over 1999, according to numbers released by the county coroner’s office.

The county recorded 26 homicides in 2000, three more than the previous year. Oxnard, the largest city in the county, accounted for nearly half of the killings, officials said. Oxnard’s homicide rate nearly doubled, soaring from five in 1999 to 11 in 2000. A flurry of gang shootings was partly to blame, with the violence claiming the lives of two teens between September and November.

Another teen, 19-year-old Edgar Cruz, was fatally shot by alleged gang members in April as he stood with friends outside the Conejo Creek condominium complex in Newbury Park.

The year’s violent episodes included four domestic slayings, among them three murder-suicides beginning with the January attack on 34-year-old Hilda Valeriano. Valeriano was fatally shot by her estranged husband after dropping the couple’s young son off at school. Jose Valeriano then turned the gun on himself.

Despite the surge of slayings in Oxnard, Assistant Police Chief Tom Cady said the city is a safe place to live. He cited a reduction of gang activity in recent weeks.

“We happen to be in one of the safest counties west of the Mississippi, even in the nation,” Cady said. “So that’s the area in which we will be compared with. But we are a safe city and my hope is that this is an unusual upswing.”

The county recorded 16 homicides from gunshots, three from stabbings, four by blunt-force trauma, two battered children and one slaying that was fire-related, coroner’s officials said.

Ventura and the unincorporated areas of the county each recorded four homicides in 2000. For the county, which is patrolled by sheriff’s deputies, that is one less homicide than in 1999. Ventura’s four slayings included the shooting of a mentally ill man by a police officer after the man stabbed employees at Community Memorial Hospital.

More recently, Steven Dale Jenkins, 23, died after he was shot in the head outside a crowded beachfront restaurant in the 1100 block of Seaward Avenue on Dec. 16. Jose Basillo Martinez Jr., 19, of Ventura, was arrested in the shooting.

Thousand Oaks, known for traditionally ranking second on the FBI’s list of safest cities, had three homicides, one more than last year. Simi Valley, which often carries the distinction as the FBI’s safest city, recorded one slaying, the same as in 1999.

Santa Paula had two homicides in 2000 compared with one in 1999.

Police Chief Bob Gonzalez said while the deaths were not considered gang-related, the increase of gang violence across Southern California has him concerned.

“We’ve seen some increase in gang activity in the last few months,” Gonzalez said. “It’s really just a sign of the times. The gang problems are cyclical. They come and go. And if you look at the trends in this nation, we’ve had a real lull. But gang crime is increasing, especially in L.A., and I think the pendulum will swing back and it will spread into the Ventura County area too.”

Four of the five cities patrolled by the Sheriff’s Department--Ojai, Moorpark, Camarillo and Fillmore--recorded no homicides in 2000.

While authorities note every homicide is tragic, some linger with them long after the investigations are over. Among those that stood out in 2000:

* The January mercy killing of 60-year-old Janet Lindquist by her husband Earl. The incident spurred discussion about the county’s aging population and the legal issues surrounding assisted suicide.

* In April, an alleged gang member from Van Nuys fatally shot Edgar Cruz, 19, and wounded his 18-year-old friend, Andres Morales, outside the Conejo Creek condominiums in Newbury Park. Officials said the victims were not affiliated with a gang.

* Dino Zarate, a 19-year-old college sophomore unable to shake his gang ties, was shot to death in September in south Oxnard. He died behind the wheel of his car in a rival gang neighborhood as his friends fled the scene. Zarate’s father and grandfather both were gang members.

* In September, police shot to death a mentally ill man from Ojai after he went on a rampage at Community Memorial Hospital, stabbing two security guards and a hospital employee.