OXNARD : Man Shot to Death at Home; Arrest Made

A 24-year-old Oxnard man was killed early Wednesday, after a gunman forced his way into the victim’s bedroom and shot him in the face while his girlfriend slept nearby.

Anthony Pech was slain at about 2:30 a.m. in his home in the 1800 block of Helm Drive in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood near Channel Islands Harbor.

About 5 p.m. Wednesday, police arrested Joseph Leon Samuel, 25, of Oxnard in the homicide. Authorities would not say whether Samuel was the gunman, nor would they elaborate on his involvement in the case.

“It strikes me as some sort of retaliation, but the motive isn’t clear,” said Oxnard Police Sgt. Cliff Troy.

According to police, at least two people drove up to Pech’s house. The gunman then got out of the car, broke down the side gate and went around the back to an enclosed patio, where Pech lived with his girlfriend.

The gunman shot Pech once after a brief struggle, police said.

Troy said he did not think the shooting was gang-related, but said that detectives had not ruled out some connection to drugs. Pech’s mother, stepfather and five brothers and sisters also live at the house, and they said Pech was not involved in drug activity.

Sergio Torres, Pech’s stepfather, said Pech’s girlfriend came screaming into the main house after the shooting. Torres said no one in the family had heard the fatal shot.

“I tried to give him CPR. He had a low pulse,” said Torres, surrounded by the grieving family members.

Pech died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Troy said the quiet neighborhood--where Neighborhood Watch signs line the street--is an unlikely location for Oxnard’s fourth homicide this year.

The last homicide in the area occurred in September, 1993, when an Oxnard man shot his accomplice in a grocery-store robbery at his Mandalay Bay home.

“It’s one of the quieter areas of town,” Troy said. “The biggest problem they have is an occasional burglary.”

But early Wednesday, neighbors said they awoke to dogs barking and a car screeching away from the house. Police said a neighbor saw a dark-colored, possibly lowered foreign car speeding north on Helm Drive.

Most neighbors said they feel safe despite the shooting.

“It had to be someone who knew him,” said one man, whose 3- and 5-year-old boys often played with Pech’s little brothers and sisters at the house.

“Otherwise, how would you know that he lives around the back of the house?”

Family members said Pech--who worked occasionally as a handyman--was not in any serious trouble that they knew of.

“He was a good son, friendly and helpful,” Torres said.