LOS ANGELES, CA – A teenage Five Guys employee remains critically injured after being struck by a stray bullet while taking a break inside an Oxnard restaurant, while police say a 16-year-old suspect has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The shooting happened at approximately 8:26 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Five Guys Burgers restaurant in the 2700 block of Portico Way, according to an updated release from the Oxnard Police Department.
Officers and emergency medical personnel responded after receiving reports of a shooting victim and found Jonathan Vasquez Jr. suffering from a single gunshot wound.
He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Police said no other shooting victims were found at the restaurant.
There is one discrepancy in the publicly available information about Vasquez’s age. Oxnard police officially identified him as 19 years old and a Santa Paula resident, while his family has described him as 18 years old.
What is consistent across the available accounts is that Vasquez, known to his family as JJ, was working at the restaurant and was not the intended target of the shooting.
Investigators determined that he was inside the business on a break when a round fired during a confrontation outside entered the restaurant and struck him.
Police said the confrontation involved a 16-year-old Oxnard resident and two additional unidentified males.
The motive for both the original altercation and the subsequent shooting remains unknown.
Police Identify and Arrest 16-Year-Old Suspect
Detectives with the Oxnard Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit took over the investigation following the shooting.
According to police, investigators gathered enough evidence to identify the 16-year-old as a suspect and obtained a search warrant for a residence in the 500 block of East First Street.
Members of the Violent Crimes Unit, Oxnard SWAT and the department’s K-9 Unit later contacted the teenager as he was leaving the residence and took him into custody.
The juvenile was subsequently booked into the Ventura County Juvenile Justice Center on suspicion of attempted murder.
Because the suspect is a minor, police have not publicly released his name.
An arrest on suspicion of attempted murder is not a conviction, and the juvenile court process will determine what allegations are formally pursued.
Authorities have not disclosed what evidence led detectives to identify the teenager or whether investigators believe he personally fired the shot that struck Vasquez.
The official release states only that a round was fired during the altercation involving the teenager and two other unidentified males.
Vasquez Was Inside and Not Involved in the Fight
One of the most significant details in the case is that Vasquez was apparently separated from the confrontation altogether.
Police said he was inside Five Guys on his break while the altercation occurred outside.
Investigators specifically determined that he was not the intended target.
That means the investigation now involves not only determining why the confrontation began, but also reconstructing how the gunfire from outside reached an uninvolved employee inside the restaurant.
Authorities have not publicly described the trajectory of the bullet, where inside the restaurant Vasquez was standing or whether customers and other employees were nearby when the shot entered the business.
No additional victims were reported.
Family Says JJ Recently Graduated and Started College
Vasquez’s family has described him as a recent high school graduate who was beginning a new stage of his life when he was shot.
According to family information shared through a fundraising campaign, JJ had recently graduated from high school, served as captain of his football team and had started working at Five Guys while attending Ventura College.
His family also said he had joined the college’s track team as a thrower.
They described him as diligent, strong and kind, with a “heart of gold.”
A separate published account of the family fundraiser said Vasquez had taken the Five Guys job while attending community college and that his relatives described him as a fighter as he remained hospitalized.
The fundraiser was created to help the family with expenses connected to his recovery.
Street People found that the family’s account of Vasquez’s age differs from the age listed in Oxnard Police Department records. Because the police release identifies him as 19 while relatives say he is 18, both versions are being noted rather than treating either as conclusively resolved.
Two Other People Remain Unidentified
Investigators are still trying to identify the other two males who were involved in the confrontation outside the restaurant.
Police have not described them publicly or said whether either is considered an additional suspect, a witness or another participant whose precise role remains under investigation.
The department also has not said whether another firearm may have been involved.
No motive has been established for the confrontation.
Authorities have not disclosed whether the people involved knew one another before the fight or whether the confrontation developed spontaneously at The Collection.
Investigation Remains Active
The shooting is being investigated by Oxnard police’s Violent Crimes Unit.
The department continues to ask anyone who witnessed the fight, saw the unidentified individuals or has video or other information about the shooting to contact investigators.
Detective Diego Estrada can be reached at 805-385-8291. Police also accept information through the department’s online suspicious-activity reporting system.
Anonymous information can also be provided through Ventura County Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
For now, the 16-year-old remains accused of attempted murder, two other participants in the confrontation have not been publicly identified, and investigators have not determined what started the altercation.
Vasquez, meanwhile, remains the unintended victim of a shooting that began outside the restaurant while he was simply taking a break from work.
