4 Teen-Agers Arraigned in Shootings : Crime: Suspect’s mother calls for an end to gang violence. Officials say they will seek to have three youths tried as adults.

As four teen-agers accused in a drive-by shooting in Saticoy were arraigned on multiple murder charges Friday, the mother of one called for an end to gang violence.

“Nothing’s going to bring home my child or bring the two boys back to life, so this gang thing has got to stop,” said the woman, who refused to give her name for fear of retaliation. Her 17-year-old son, Edward (Tony) Troop, was charged with murder and attempted murder after a bloody melee Sunday that left two young men dead in Cabrillo Village and two others injured.

“The territory will always be there, but the people will not,” the woman said. “Our kids are taking each other out for what? All I want is for things to be over.”

About 150 residents of the Cabrillo Village community also met Friday evening to discuss how to ensure peace.

Troop’s mother on Friday described her son as a “good kid” who sometimes ran with the wrong crowd when he was depressed.

Troop is the oldest of four teen-agers who were arraigned in Ventura County Juvenile Court for their alleged roles in the shooting--the result of what many claim is ongoing animosity between rival gangs.

The district attorney’s office is seeking to try the 17-year-old--who authorities suspect wielded the .22-caliber rifle used in the shootings--and two 16-year-olds as adults. If convicted as juveniles, they could not be kept in custody past age 25, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said.

By law, the fourth suspect, a 15-year-old referred to in court as Joseph E., must be tried as a juvenile. His attorney was given a postponement before entering a plea to review the case more thoroughly.

The three older youths cannot enter pleas until rulings on whether they will stand trial as adults. The hearing on the matter for one of the boys will take place in about two weeks and the others must still be scheduled.

One of the 16-year-old boys is from Oxnard, and the other three boys are from Ventura, authorities said. But officials have refused to identify the suspects until the rulings, referring to the juveniles in court by their first names and the first initial of their middle names.

However, Troop’s mother identified her son, and the father of one of the 16-year-old suspects gave his son’s name as Carlos Vargas.

Troop, Vargas and the other two suspects remain in custody in Ventura County Juvenile Hall.

“In the interest of the safety of the minor himself and other people in the county, he should be detained,” said Superior Court Judge Robert Willard, referring to Vargas. He echoed the safety concerns when denying the releases of the other teen-agers and brought up the “terrific temptation to flee” when denying a request that 16-year-old Vincent V. be released from custody to home supervision.

The youths were arrested Tuesday evening, two days after gunfire killed Rolando Martinez, 20, and Javier Ramirez, 19, who were leaving a baptismal party in the community just east of the Ventura city limits.

Rudy Gutierrez, 19, and Ilmer Maradiaga, 22, also were wounded. The two, both of Saticoy, were released from the Ventura County Medical Center earlier this week.

The four were arrested after the Sheriff’s Department received anonymous tips and talked to witnesses.

Each of the suspects is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. The three older suspects are charged with a special circumstance that the offenses had multiple murder victims, which means the youths could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole if they are convicted as adults.

Investigators said the 17-year-old suspect, an El Rio gang member, apparently fired randomly in retaliation for an earlier scuffle between his gang and a Cabrillo Village gang.

Several Ventura youths said Friday that the shooting was a pay-back for a 1989 shooting in which three unarmed Avenue Gangsters were shot and injured at a Cabrillo Village party.

But the victims in the shooting Sunday were not gang members, authorities said.

“In this offense the victims were so totally blameless and in no way whatsoever did they provoke anything,” Brewer said. “It’s just a senseless killing. It’s the kind of thing that’s as abhorrent as anything I can even contemplate.”

The 17-year-old already is on juvenile probation for a misdemeanor assault last year, Brewer said. And the 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to a case of public intoxication and will be sentenced after the murder trial, his attorney and officials said.

Prosecutors declined to comment on whether the crime was gang-related. But authorities called for extra security in the courtroom Friday morning.

Six sheriff’s deputies staffed the room rather than the two normally assigned to it. Purses and briefcases were searched, and everyone entering the proceedings was screened with a metal detector.

In addition, the first two rows of seats in the small room were roped off to prevent the public from sitting close to the defendants. No unusual incidents occurred, officials said.

The teen-agers stared straight ahead toward the judge, except for occasional glances at their families, who sat just one row away from the grim-faced families of the slain men.

Vargas’ father later described his son as a good boy. “I never had problems with him,” he said. “He always did what he was told. He isn’t foul-mouthed and did well in school.”

Troop’s mother said her son began working when he was 14 to help support his family but had lost his job at a Ventura department store about two months ago. He was expecting to graduate from high school through an independent study program next month, she said.

She said she would not comment on allegations that her son was the shooter or on his alleged participation in gangs.

But, she said, she had been getting harassing phone calls that she believed were gang-related. “It’s just retaliation” from gangs, she said.

Felix Martinez, 26, a neighbor of the two slain men, called the meeting at Cabrillo Village on Friday evening to try to stop the violence. Hector Martinez, the brother of victim Rolando Martinez, agreed. “All I can say is, we don’t want any more violence,” he said.

The group wants to put up a security gate to guard the community. It also wants to build a gymnasium to provide activities so children are not drawn into gangs.

After attending the meeting, about 12 teen-agers who identified themselves as members of the Campo gang said they would not retaliate unless gang members return to Cabrillo Village.