3 Are Shot to Death in Simi Home

A grandmother and two young children were fatally shot and three teenagers injured Wednesday in an upscale Simi Valley neighborhood, and police launched a search for an assailant they believe knew his victims.

Authorities identified the victims as Espiranza Martinez, Ricardo Calderon, 12, and Chantel Rios, 5. Martinez is the grandmother of Ricardo.

“This is a major tragedy, major,” Simi Valley Police Lt. Rex Jones said.

Homeowners Ana and Rafael Calderon were not present when a gunman opened fire about 3:45 p.m. with a handgun in their brown-tiled $500,000 home on Yurok Court in northeastern Simi Valley, police said.

Two teenage Calderon children and another teenage girl were injured.

Authorities at Simi Valley Hospital said a 19-year-old woman, Lucia Vargas, was shot in the chest and 16-year-old Rigoberto Calderon was shot in the right thigh. At Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, doctors treated 18-year-old Rafael Calderon Jr. for bruises and a broken wrist he got when jumping out of a second-story window to escape gunfire.

The victims were found throughout the house, authorities said.

The incident unfolded after a man in a blue 2002 Ford Explorer pulled up to the house, calmly walked inside and opened fire.

Police said late Wednesday they were searching for the suspect, Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez, 35, who sped from the scene in the sport utility vehicle, which had been rented from a Hertz agency.

Two high-ranking Simi Valley officials said police believe Rodriguez torched his Thousand Oaks house. The Ventura County Fire Department confirmed there was a minor fire at Rodriquez’s house on Teasdale Street.

“He did have a relationship somehow to one of the victims inside the house,” Jones said.

Nine people lived in the spacious new home on the cul de sac--Ana and Rafael Calderon, their five children, a granddaughter and a grandmother. Visitors had also descended on the home this week for a party planned for this weekend, neighbors said.

The Calderons were well-known in the Montaire neighborhood, which is perched on a bluff north of the 118 Freeway. According to neighbors, the Calderons had three boys--ages 12, 16, and 18--two adult daughters and a 5-year-old grandchild.

Neighbors Say Family Is Close-Knit

Neighbors said the Calderons are a hard-working, well-respected family. Ana Calderon runs a cleaning business and her husband owns a machine shop, they said.

“They were a close-knit family, very traditional and very, very nice,” said neighbor Paul Morales, who had shared dinner with them the night before. “We just hung out. We were just there, talking to the kids.

“These were good kids,” he added. “They played video games and soccer and basketball. I would ride my bike through the neighborhood with them.”

Roland Tureaud, 15, said he is friends with Rigoberto Calderon.

“We like to skateboard,” he said. “I was just going to go over there when I finished my homework. It could have been me. It could have been anyone.”

Amir Goodazi, 13, the best friend of 12-year-old Ricardo Calderon, said the family was particularly popular. “Ricky had a lot of friends,” he said. “We always went skateboarding together.”

Neighbor Peggy Pratts said the Calderons are a great family.

“You’re walking, it’s, ‘Can i get you a glass of water to finish your last lap?’ They would have opened the door for anybody.”

The Calderons often invite neighbors over for barbecues.

After the killings, residents stood in the street, sipping cold drinks on a warm evening. Some were crying. Parents worried about their children, who didn’t know if their friends were still alive.

Raj Singh, 40, and his wife, Balwinber Kaur, 35, had just completed an inspection of a nearby five-bedroom house they were to close escrow on this morning.

Transplants from Chicago, they said they started a business in Chatsworth and chose to buy in the neighborhood because of Simi Valley’s vaunted reputation, according to FBI statistics, as the safest big city in the nation. They also were drawn by the subdivision’s proximity to rugged hillsides.

“I think I may think twice now,” said Singh, the father of two young children. “I have to make sure the kids are in a safe place.”

Simi Valley, despite its reputation for safety, has been plagued by violence and death this summer.

In late July, police arrested Vincent Sanchez, a 30-year-old handyman, on suspicion of a series of rapes and the slaying of Moorpark College student Megan Barroso.

In June, off-duty Los Angeles Police Officer Geno Patrick Colello, 35, fatally shot his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend in front of the man’s Simi Valley home and then took his own life.

‘Something We’re Not Used to’

Simi Valley Councilman Glen Becerra said it was hard to fathom the tragedy at the Calderon home.

“This is something we’re not used to seeing in our community, and I hope it’s something we never get used to seeing,” he said.

“A whole family has been devastated. It just goes to show--even in the safest city in America, terrible things can happen. You pray that they don’t, but they can.”

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Times staff writers Fred Alvarez, Steve Chawkins, David Kelly, Jenifer Ragland, Matt Surman, Margaret Talev and Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.