Man Is Shot Point-Blank in Head on Oxnard Street

A 22-year-old Santa Paula man was shot in the head and critically wounded by an unknown assailant Tuesday night, minutes after his parents dropped him off at a friend’s house in Oxnard.

The victim, whose identity was not released by police, was in intensive care at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, said Oxnard Cmdr. Bryan MacDonald.

He and the woman he was visiting were standing outside near her apartment in the 1000 block of Hull Place about 8:20 p.m. when another man walked up and asked the Santa Paula man where he was from. Before the victim could answer, the gunman shot him point-blank in the forehead, MacDonald said. The entire exchange lasted no more than five seconds.

Investigators have not determined whether the shooting was gang-related, MacDonald said, although the question “Where are you from?” is common between rival gangs.

No other motive has been established, as police said it appears the two men did not know each other, no argument occurred before the shooting and there was no attempted robbery.

“It appears to be a cold, callous shooting,” MacDonald said.

The shooting comes as police make a concerted effort to crack down on violent crime in Ventura County’s largest city.

Seven killings have occurred since the first of the year, although police officials say only one of those was gang-related. The department has tripled staffing in its homicide and major crimes units to help keep a lid on violent crime, and the city has pledged extra funding to the department’s gang-suppression program, said Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez.

But those efforts are unlikely to affect crimes such as Tuesday’s shooting, when people appear “bound and determined to kill another individual,” Lopez said.

“What we’re trying to do right now is have an impact on the visible stuff,” he said.

MacDonald said he believes the stepped-up efforts to stem gang violence have produced results, including the arrests of two men Tuesday believed to be involved in a shooting that occurred in the 1700 block of Montevina Circle last week.

“We are just working nonstop, day and night, to send a message to these people that we won’t tolerate it,” he said. “We can’t be everywhere every time, but we try our best.”