Photo: Alfonso Islas
Ventura County – Just after midnight on January 11, 2020, the streets of Eastern Ventura County’s unincorporated town of El Rio echoed with gunfire. A 911 Emergency call to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Communications Center alerted deputies, and within minutes they were on the scene.
According to VCSD spokesman Sgt. Steven Jenkins, as deputies rolled up to the scene they quickly “located a male victim” suffering from a gunshot wound. After an ambulance ride to a nearby emergency medical facility, the victim “was pronounced deceased.”
An investigation into the shooting immediately ensued, leading to evidence indicating the victim was in a vehicle when “the occupant of another car shot a firearm which struck the victim.” Over the following two months of painstaking detective work, it was determined that Oxnard residents Alfonso Islas and Fher Ortega are “the suspects in this crime.”
With their suspects clearly identified, on March 11th detectives attached to three individual enforcement units—the Ventura County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Gang Unit, and the Oxnard Police Department—made contact with Ortega and Islas and arrested them. Both men were transported to Ventura County Jail, where they were each booked on charges of Murder with special “gang enhancement” and Conspiracy to Commit Murder. They remain in custody, with Ortega’s bail set at $750,000 and Islas’ bail set at $3,000,000.
Photos: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
