Oxnard Police Fatally Shoot Man in Home

Oxnard police shot and killed a knife-wielding suspect Friday after he allegedly threatened his mother and officers, marking the city’s second officer-involved fatality in the past five weeks.

Robert Lee Jones, 23, died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard shortly after the 11 a.m. shooting in the 2000 block of Bahia Drive.

Jones was shot by officers after a brief standoff inside a four-bedroom, single-story house just off Gonzales Road, across the street from Pacifica High School.

Jones’ mother, Ida Perkins, called police from a neighbor’s phone after her son cut the lines inside their home, said David Keith, spokesman for the Oxnard Police Department.

She told police her son had been acting strange and appeared mentally unstable Friday morning, Keith said.

The first officers on the scene entered the house and confronted Jones in a bedroom, Keith said. Officers at first tried to disarm Jones using pepper spray and beanbag rounds.

“He was inside the home and had armed himself with a knife,” Keith said. “They attempted to use less than lethal force, but at that point the incident escalated and shots were fired.”

Keith said it was unclear what type of knife was involved. Officers collected shell casings at the scene and examined a bullet hole in a bedroom wall.

Investigators were forced to wait several hours for a bench warrant to reenter the home after the first officers on the scene left the residence.

The incident was the fifth officer-involved shooting in Oxnard this year to result in death and the second this summer.

In July, Oxnard officers killed a 27-year-old man who pointed a gun at them during a robbery at a doughnut shop. Oxnard police shot and wounded a man in early July after he stabbed an officer with a knife, police said.

Keith said the shootings can be traced directly to the high number of mentally ill people on the street, some of whom are carrying weapons.

“The majority of the shootings in Oxnard have involved mental health issues,” Keith said. “Things have changed. People are loose and we are the first ones to come in contact with them.”

The shooting forced many of the Police Department’s top officials to cut short an open house ceremony at Pacifica High School. Police Chief Art Lopez and other commanders were among the first officers on the scene.

Neighbors who know Ida Perkins said Jones lived with her and his stepfather Stephen Perkins since the housing development opened in 1997. The mother and son were making final preparations to move out of the house today, neighbors said.

Consuelo Maciel said Ida Perkins was frantic when she pounded on the door and demanded to use the phone to call police.

“She said she was having some problems with her son,” Maciel said. A short time after Perkins called police from her phone, Maciel said, at least two shots echoed from the home next door.

Stephen Perkins had already moved to their new home in Oregon after a job transfer, said Janet Vizanski, who lives behind the Perkins home.

Vizanski said she rarely saw Jones or his stepfather, but often would say hello to Ida Perkins as she went on one of her nightly jogs around the block. Friday, she heard two loud bangs and immediately thought they were gunshots.

“In every dream home there is a nightmare,” Vizanski said. “We were all strangers when we moved in, but she was always active in the community and always there for us.”