3 Sought in Ventura Shooting

Ventura police continued their search Monday for a gunman and two accomplices in the fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man and the wounding of his cousin outside a liquor store.

Detectives were looking for two men and a woman who fled from the parking lot of Red Barn Liquor on Ventura Avenue about 12:30 a.m. Sunday in a blue or green Toyota Corolla, said Police Sgt. Jerry Thurston.

“I’ve got eight investigators scouring the city trying to follow up on this,” Thurston said Monday.

Manuel Morales, 23, who was shot twice in the chest, was expected to survive, Thurston said. He was being treated at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura.

His cousin, Fidel Morales, was pronounced dead at a local hospital minutes after being shot once in the chest and run over in the parking lot.

The killing, which was believed to be gang-related, was Ventura’s first homicide since May 2002. The slaying brings the total number of homicides in Ventura County this year to 31, eight more than in all of 2002.

Fidel Morales and his cousin had just purchased beer at the store when they apparently instigated a confrontation with the suspects, who walked out of the store at the same time, authorities said.

After the Moraleses stopped their car in the parking lot and approached the suspects’ vehicle, they exchanged words and one of the suspects opened fire.

As the suspects fled, they drove over Fidel Morales, Thurston said.