Oxnard Police Search for Boy’s Killers

OXNARD — Police were searching Tuesday for the killers of a 14-year-old boy who died after he was shot in the chest outside his aunt’s house in the South Winds neighborhood of Oxnard.

In what police are calling a gang-related crime, Ralph David Rico Jr. of Oxnard was shot several times in the chest about 11 p.m. Monday and left to die on a sidewalk across from his aunt’s home--just moments after she had called the youth inside for the evening.

“I had just called him,” said his aunt, Deborah Diaz. “Not even 15 minutes later I heard gunshots ring out. I ran across the street and saw the body and I knew it was him.”

Ralph died at 11:36 p.m. in the emergency room of St. John’s Medical Center in Oxnard, said Jim Wingate, a Ventura County chief deputy medical examiner.

He had just walked a friend home and spent another couple of hours talking to a second friend outside his aunt’s home on Roland Way, Diaz said.

On Tuesday, Oxnard police searched for a suspect described by witnesses as a Hispanic male in his late teens who approached Ralph on foot, after his friend had left, and shot him without a word.

The suspect then fled in a dark brown, four-door compact car. He was wearing a light shirt, dark pants and had short hair.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives gathered at Diaz’s home to mourn the boy, who they said was trying to stay away from gangs that plague the South Winds neighborhood. Others--including his mother, who relatives said is incarcerated in Fresno--telephoned throughout the day.

“My son was going straight,” said his father tearfully. “He was trying to change his life but he liked his friends.”

Ralph David Rico Sr. of Oxnard last saw his son, known simply to the family as “Junior,” at the Oxnard Greyhound station where the boy was catching a bus to visit friends in his aunt’s neighborhood. He was to spend the night there.

“I hugged him, told him ‘I love you’ and ‘God bless and be careful,’ ” he said, choking back tears.

Less than three weeks ago, Ralph was released from a Juvenile Hall facility where he was sent for violating probation in a robbery case.

Colston Youth Center administrators described him as a troubled teen on the mend. He had thrown himself into counseling and his classes at the Ventura center, earning above-average grades and 30 high-school units.

This summer, he was planning to continue taking classes at the center in order to attend Port Hueneme High School in the fall, said Carol Hurtt, division manager of the youth facility.

But most importantly, she said, Ralph told counselors he wanted to end his gang associations. “He said he planned to get his [gang] tattoo removed, so it led us to believe that he was serious about relinquishing his gang ties,” she said. “I really thought he was going to be successful out there.”

Only 14 and a newcomer to Oxnard, Ralph was also new to gangs, his family said.

He moved to the city in 1994 after spending his childhood with his grandmother in Rialto outside Los Angeles.

“Junior was a No. 1 student and a No. 1 kid,” said his grandmother, Hortensia Acerado. “He was a good boy. When he got here, he started hanging out with the wrong people.”

Rico Sr., who had recently gained custody of the boy and was trying to bring his family together through counseling, said that since going to Juvenile Hall, his son had begun strengthening his relationship with his relatives.

Friends comforting the Rico family Tuesday remembered Ralph as a buddy who liked to joke and hang out.

Lissette Mata, 13, who was with Ralph shortly before he was shot, placed a candle on the spot where he died while neighbors watched.

“I’ll miss him,” she said. “He was a good friend and a good person to talk to.”

Neighbors said such incidents are common in their rough-and-tumble neighborhood. Several said they heard shots as recently as Friday.

“At night, you don’t feel safe,” said 12-year-old Michael Gonzalez. “You worry that a bullet is going to pass through the wall.”

But Oxnard police said the neighborhood is less dangerous than it was in the late 1980s, due to a stronger police presence. In 1993, Oxnard police opened a storefront in the South Winds neighborhood.