OXNARD : 16-Year-Old Held in Assault, Shooting

A 16-year-old Oxnard youth has been arrested in connection with a shooting in an Oxnard alley last week that left one man wounded, police said Wednesday.

Oxnard police believe the suspect arrested Tuesday night is a member of a gang that may be tied to another shooting Sunday night.

The suspect was taken to Juvenile Hall on suspicion of attempted murder in a March 22 incident in the 1100 block of North H Street after youths questioned in a separate case linked him to the shooting, police said.

Gang investigator Glenn Velo said the suspect and four or five other members of a La Colonia gang confronted 23-year-old Mario Almada and two friends in an Oxnard alley about 1 a.m. last Thursday.

The gang members beat Almada and, after he managed to escape, followed him to his apartment, according to police. The suspect allegedly shot Almada three times through the doorway, hitting him in the neck and the lower back, Velo said.

Almada is recovering from his wounds at St. John’s Regional Medical Center. Velo said Almada is not a suspected gang member.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate a case in which an Oxnard man was shot in the back of the neck Sunday night by a gunman in a car behind him near Yucca Street.

The victim in that case, Hector Camacho, 19, was released from St. John’s on Tuesday.