Family Feud Reportedly Behind Fatal Shooting

A 27-year-old Santa Paula man shot to death in a Santa Paula park Sunday was allegedly gunned down by his cousin in retaliation for helping send another relative to Mexican prison, family members said Monday.

Relatives of Javier Garcia said his slaying at Teague Park Sunday afternoon was carried out by two of his cousins for fingering their brother in an arson case in Mexico.

“We’re a family, but we never get along together,” Javier’s aunt, Laura Garcia, said. “We’re all the time fighting.”

Santa Paula police said they have identified two suspects in the double shooting that left Garcia dead and seriously injured his cousin, Jose Tellez Vasquez.

But they declined to release the assailants’ names, saying that relatives of the men had indicated that they might turn themselves in to police.

The suspects remained at large Monday evening, police said.

Meanwhile, Garcia’s family gathered in the small stucco house he shared with three of his brothers, making arrangements to fly his body home to his parents in Michoacan, Mexico.

Vasquez remained in serious condition in the intensive-care unit of Ventura County Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Vasquez and Garcia were having a picnic with family and friends at the park when two assailants drove into the parking lot, police said.

One of the assailants confronted Vasquez as he walked away from the restroom and then shot him twice with a semiautomatic 9-millimeter pistol, Police Cmdr. Bob Gonzales said.

As the gunman approached the rest of the group, Garcia ran from the area. He was hit once in the head, once in the upper chest and once in the center of the chest, police said. The driver then sped away while the gunman fled on foot, police said.

Gonzales said the shooting appears to be the result of an ongoing feud between the assailants and the victims, whom the police believe are related. Gonzales said investigators have not had time to confirm that the shootings were the result of a family feud.

“We think there may be some feud going on,” Gonzales said. “It’s not for sure, yet. But it appears to be some kind of ongoing problem.”

Detectives are investigating whether the dispute was started by the arson in Michoacan, Gonzales said. They also are investigating whether the shooting was in retaliation for the alleged killing of a member of the suspects’ family.

Vasquez’s brother Miguel, 24, said the dispute stemmed from jealousy over family real estate in Mexico. But Laura Garcia linked the crime to the alleged arson.

She said the two sides of the family have never been close.

Tensions escalated when the other side of the family became jealous of a pickup truck that Garcia drove to Mexico to visit his parents, she said.

In October, a cousin set fire to Garcia’s truck in Michoacan, Garcia’s uncle Roberto Garcia said. Javier Garcia told police about the arson, and the cousin ended up in prison, he said.

Two months ago, Javier Garcia returned to Santa Paula, where he worked in the fields picking lemons and oranges. Laura Garcia said Javier was sometimes taunted by members of the other side of the family. But no one expected the feud to take a deadly turn, she said.

Javier Garcia’s relatives said they did not know where the suspected cousins have fled but they said they have no wish to retaliate. They said they prefer to let police handle the matter.

“All I want is that the guilty party be punished,” said Vasquez’s brother, Miguel Vasquez. “They already killed my cousin and my brother is barely hanging on.”

Times staff writer Santiago O’Donnell also contributed to this article.