Funds Collected for Slain Teen’s Funeral

Friends and teammates of a Rio Mesa High School football player, who last month was shot to death, collected $1,000 from classmates and teachers to help defray funeral expenses.

More than 30 football players visited classrooms Friday to collect donations for Frank Miramontez’s funeral.

The 17-year-old Miramontez was found slumped in the front seat of his burning car on Cortez Street in El Rio on Dec. 23, shot twice in the head. He was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where he died the next morning.

“I still can’t believe that he’s dead,” teammate Joshua Rippee said. “He was a good friend, someone you could count on.”

“He didn’t deserve it. He had nothing to do with gangs or anything like that,” teammate Chauncey LaManche said. “He’s going to be missed by a lot of people.”

The death has been ruled a homicide, but no suspects have been identified, law enforcement officials said. More than 100 people have been interviewed during the investigation, said a detective with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Officials and friends said the teenager did not have any gang affiliations.

A memorial was held Thursday at the scene of his death.