Mourners Vent Anger Over Deaths

Upset over the fatal shooting of two teenagers, dozens of Saticoy residents converged on law enforcement officers in the same neighborhood to vent their anger, sheriff’s officials said Monday.

More than 100 people had gathered Sunday evening to mourn the 14- and 18-year-old boys killed in a drive-by shooting that morning in the 11300 block of Violeta Street, said Capt. Ron Nelson, spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The elder victim was identified as Alfred Romero; the name of the other victim was not released.

Just before 8 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy pulled over a car at Violeta and Alelia Avenue, not far from the scene of the shooting, Nelson said.

The driver, Jordan Wallman, 22, of Ventura was “belligerent” and threatened the deputy before running away, Nelson said.

With the help of his canine partner, the deputy caught Wallman and arrested him, Nelson said. Mourners noticed Wallman and the deputy, and approached them.

“They became very upset,” Nelson said. They advanced on the deputy and “made threatening remarks to him.”

People in the crowd were expressing their frustration at the fact that “the police weren’t there when the drive-by occurred, but now here they are arresting someone,” he added.

The deputy and another officer who had responded to the initial traffic stop called for backup, Nelson said.

A helicopter and about 35 officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Oxnard and Ventura police departments and California Highway Patrol arrived at the scene.

Jessica Gutierrez, 19, of Fillmore and Mario Gaona, 26, of Camarillo were arrested.

Gutierrez nearly ran over a deputy while trying to drive off, Nelson said.

She fled into the house where the boys had been shot to avoid arrest, he added. She was booked on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer with a deadly weapon.

Gaona, who was in the group that had approached the deputies, was arrested on suspicion of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer.

Detectives were still investigating the drive-by shooting Monday, Nelson said. The victims were associated with a Saticoy gang, but officials don’t know whether the shooting was gang-related, he added.