Shootings Heighten Fears in Ventura County Neighborhood

It was Friday night when the first shooting erupted, as two carloads of El Salvadoran gang members blew in from Van Nuys and raked the Conejo Creek condominium complex with gunfire, reportedly killing one man and wounding another.

By Sunday afternoon, more Van Nuys gang members had arrived, authorities say, this time opening fire on a group on their way to a memorial service for the dead man, Edgar Cruz, 19.

The two shootings in two days have residents of this long-troubled west end neighborhood talking about moving away, fearful of the next hail of gunfire.

“It was pretty quiet for a long time, but in the past few weeks there have been a lot of fights and now this killing,” said six-year resident Norma Barillas, who lives with her husband and their six children half a block from where Cruz was gunned down.

“I’m scared for our kids,” she said. “I can’t let them be outside without feeling the fear that they might be shot.”

Although gang violence once overwhelmed the complex, deputies who regularly patrol the area said that problems had diminished.

Authorities said the recent shootings are clearly gang-related, a feud pitting the Van Nuys gang against gang members from Thousand Oaks.

Investigators said a man with ties to the Salvadoran gang recently moved into the complex and has had problems with residents and gang members.

Though there are few details on what sparked the feud, authorities said it centers on cultural rivalries between the Salvadoran man and his Mexican neighbors.

In recent weeks, fights escalated between the two sides, prompting the Salvadoran to call on his friends in Van Nuys for backup, police said.

“These are out-of-towners brought in to ensure the safety of one of their buddies,” Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said.

Brooks has assigned up to eight extra deputies to patrol the complex each night for at least a week. Sheriff’s officials also have organized a town hall meeting for Wednesday night so that residents can voice their concerns.

There is even talk of returning a deputy to a neighborhood center in the condominium complex. The officer had been stationed at the center for six months, ending in January.

On Monday morning, Olivia Alamilla sat in her living room making plans to return to Hidalgo, Mexico, to bury the body of her nephew, Edgar Cruz.

On Friday about 8:30 p.m., as neighbors stood outside their condominiums talking and small children played in the street, two carloads of men pulled up next to Cruz and friend Andres Morales, 18, and opened fire.

Cruz died at the scene. Morales was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center for treatment and was released Sunday.

“They gunned him down like an animal,” said Cruz’s uncle, Pedro Cruz, his eyes red from crying. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.”

The Conejo Creek complex has long been a hot spot for police, who have logged an average of 850 calls for service over the past few years, with 40% of those occurring on the weekend.

“Almost once a year we have a stabbing or shooting at that complex,” said Senior Deputy Harold Hanley, who has patrolled the area. “That’s just been the history of it. Conejo Creek has just been one of the biggest challenges for us.”

Fed up with the violence, the homeowners association worked with city officials and the Sheriff’s Department to open a community resource center last year.

A deputy was assigned to work out of the center for the first six months, then it was left to the association to find tutors and other volunteers to keep the doors open.

For a time, the plan seemed to work. Authorities said no significant gang activity in the Conejo Creek area was reported last year.

But the two shootings over the weekend have residents and law enforcement officials on heightened alert once again.

Two days after Friday’s incident, gunshots rang out in the parking lot of a Del Taco restaurant next door to the condominium complex. Authorities said a man shot at four men who were on their way to a memorial service for Cruz. No one was hurt.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested 10 men in connection with the shootings, all members of a Van Nuys gang.

“The fact that we’re able to make arrests in both of these cases,” Brooks said, “should send out a pretty good message.”