Candlelight Vigil Held for Slain Teenager

A candlelight vigil was held Monday evening near the place where a 19-year-old Santa Paula youth was gunned down last weekend.

More than two dozen people, mostly adolescents, held candles and said prayers for Richard Macias Jr. in the driveway of a small home in the 800 block of East Santa Paula Street. The tree-lined street is mostly fronted by well-kept Victorian homes.

Macias had been running toward the house when he was shot once in the back late Friday night. The killing was Ventura County’s first homicide this year.

Macias and a friend, 20-year-old Jesus “Jessie” Duenas, also of Santa Paula, were both shot while fleeing from an argument that had started in front of a three-unit apartment building on East Santa Paula Street.

Macias died a short time later at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. Duenas, who was treated for gunshot wounds to the elbow and the abdomen, remained in fair condition at the Santa Paula hospital Monday night.

The main suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Jaimie Arias of Fillmore, remains at large, authorities said.

Monday’s two-hour vigil, where attendees included friends and relatives of Macias, was organized by Faith Connection, a nondenominational group based in Oxnard that focuses on the problems of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and violence among young people.

“We’re all very concerned over what appears to be a growing incidence of young people killing young people,” said Larry Tyler-Wayman, who organized the vigil.

“These are human beings--they’re not statistics,” he said. “This is someone’s son.”