There were no homicides booked in Fillmore, Ojai, Moorpark and Camarillo.One slaying counted as a homicide occurred in September when a mentally ill man from Ojai went on a rampage inside Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura; after the man had stabbed two security guards and a hospital employee, he was shot to death by Ventura Police.In Santa Paula, the three homicides were the Feb. 27 unsolved murder of Leobardo “Mario” Lizarraga, 41. Lizarraga’s body was found inside his business, Lita’s Clothing, 962 E. Main St., by a family friend after midnight. Although jewelry had been taken, the cash had been left behind.The second murder occurred on Nov. 7, when 21-year-old Joanne Marie Orozco of Santa Paula, was shot outside a Saticoy Street home where she and a companion had stopped to pick up a friend.Orozco and her companion - Shane Longoria, 22 of Fillmore - were confronted by 17-year-old Isaac Daniel Lara, a former Santa Paula resident living in Oxnard. He allegedly shot Orozco outside the home and then wounded Longoria. Lara is awaiting trial on murder charges.Santa Paula’s final homicide of the year occurred near noon on Dec. 27, when Rogelio Torres, 20 of Santa Paula, was shot once in the head while sitting in his car on North Oak Street.Even though evidence pointed to an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound, the autopsy confirmed that Torres, a known gang member, was shot by someone else after he had pulled up to a home and started to argue with the occupant; when the occupant went inside and Torres started to exit his car, neighbors heard the single gunshot.
VC murder rate up in 2000 with Oxnard accounting for almost half
January 19, 2001
Santa Paula News
Ventura County had 26 homicides in 2000, including three in Santa Paula.
The 26 homicides were three more than booked throughout the county in 1999, and gang violence in Oxnard - the largest city in the county - helped push the 2000 total higher: Oxnard’s murder rate nearly doubled last year from five in 1999 to 11 in 2000, with many of the deaths related to gang violence.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesVentura County had 26 homicides in 2000, including three in Santa Paula.The 26 homicides were three more than booked throughout the county in 1999, and gang violence in Oxnard - the largest city in the county - helped push the 2000 total higher: Oxnard’s murder rate nearly doubled last year from five in 1999 to 11 in 2000, with many of the deaths related to gang violence.The county’s homicide list includes 16 deaths from gunshots, three stabbing deaths, four murders with blunt-force trauma, two battered children cases and one fire-related murder.Thousand Oaks, one of the safest cities in the nation for its size, had three homicides during 2000, one more than in 1999. In April, a gang shooting occurred outside the Conejo Creek condominiums off Ventu Park Road; within days, a shooting - no one was struck - occurred at a fast food facility around the corner that was found to be linked to the murder.Simi Valley had one slaying last year, the same as during 1999.Next to Oxnard, Ventura had the highest murder rate with four homicides in 2000, matching the four murders that occurred in the unincorporated areas of the county.
