5 arrested in Oceanside teen’s stabbing death

OCEANSIDE  — Two adults and three teenagers identified by police as gang members have been arrested on suspicion of murder in the Jan. 29 stabbing of 16-year-old Javier Luna, who was fatally injured near his Oceanside home last month.

They were taken into custody by Oceanside police on Thursday night and early Friday morning, police Capt. Ray Bechler said.

Bechler said the slaying was motivated by one gang retaliating against another for graffiti and vandalism.

Police said the five suspects are members of a gang associated with Eastside neighborhood, which is not far from Crown Heights, the neighborhood where Javier lived. The vandalism and graffiti occurred in Eastside.

Bechler said Javier was affiliated with the gang in his neighborhood. Javier’s family has said he was not a gang member.

Police arrested Francisco Barajas, 21, and Omar Garcia, who turned 18 last month. Both were jailed on suspicion of murder, conspiracy and participating in a gang crime.

No arrest records were available for the three teens, identified by Oceanside police as Juan Zarita, Jose Zamora and Roberto Medina, all 17.

Javier was stabbed about 1:45 p.m. near Center Avenue and Division Street, on the backside of Oceanside High School. He died that night at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

His mother, Rosalinda Rodriguez, has said she had picked up her son at Ocean Shores High School less than an hour before he was slain. She said he was happy and excited because he had been nominated to be student of the month.

After arriving home, Javier went down the block to buy a snack from a food truck. Shortly afterward, a neighborhood boy told Rodriguez that Javier had been stabbed.

Police found the wounded teenager around the corner, on South Weitzel Street, about a block from his family’s small apartment. Five to six male suspects were seen fleeing the area after the stabbing.

His mother ran to the scene and saw her unconscious son.

She said she yelled to him to fight for his life. “You’re young. You have a lot of life to live,” she screamed.

Javier was the third of her seven children, all boys. She has said she wants to get justice for Javier’s death.

It was the fifth violent crime in the Crown Heights neighborhood since last March. The other four incidents were shootings, one fatal.