Ventura Police Question Teenager in Man’s Shooting

VENTURA — An 18-year-old Ventura man was in critical condition Monday after being shot by a 16-year-old youth when he went to the boy’s house armed with a butcher knife, police said.

Chris Ringgold, a former tenant, was shot in the side with a handgun about 1:20 p.m. in the 100 block of Howard Street, said Ventura Police Det. Gary McCaskill.

“It’s fairly early to say exactly what happened, but apparently the adult had lived in the residence previously and came back to get some of his property armed with a butcher knife,” said McCaskill, standing in front of the home where the shooting took place.

“From there I don’t know what transpired, but the victim has multiple gunshot wounds, and he is in surgery now,” he said.

McCaskill would not say if the police were handling the investigation as an attempted murder or a self-defense shooting. But the suspect, a sophomore at Ventura High School who just celebrated his birthday Sunday, was held for questioning and later released, pending further investigation. Police also took into custody two of the boy’s friends for questioning.

Neighbors said the youths were rowdy and only a week before had shot someone with a BB gun.

As the police cordoned off the street in the midtown Ventura neighborhood, the suspect and his friends sat in three separate patrol cars where they were interviewed by police.

The suspect’s mother, who does not live at the home, arrived about 20 minutes after the shooting and was also interviewed by police. She declined to comment on the incident. The teenager lived with his father, who was working in Los Angeles on Monday.

Four police investigators showed up soon after the shooting and mapped out the crime scene, taking notes as they waited for a judge to approve a warrant to search the house where the shooting occurred.

Just inside the door of the home was the butcher knife, and drops of blood marked the path taken by the victim after he was shot.

David Speers, 47, who lives directly across the street, said he heard a loud bang and then saw Ringgold stagger across the street holding his side.

The young man collapsed on Speers’ front porch.

“There really wasn’t much I could do but try and stop the bleeding,” said Speers, his hands and shorts still stained with blood half an hour after the shooting.

“He asked me if he was going to be OK, and I told him he was all right,” Speers said.

Ringgold was conscious but in obvious pain as paramedics rolled him into an ambulance, which transported him to Ventura County Medical Center where he underwent surgery.

Neighbors could only speculate on what prompted the shooting.

“I can say they were a pretty rowdy bunch,” Speers said of the 16-year-old and his friends. “They weren’t at school that much.”

Speers said Ringgold had come by his house earlier in the day to talk to his daughter.

“Chris had said something about those guys having a loaded .38 over there,” Speers said.

Neighbor Vincent Gatica, 18, and his friend, David Guzman, 18, said they were home when they heard the shots.

Gatica said that last week the youths were on the roof of the house shooting BBs at passersby.

“Those guys are there all day. They’re never at school,” said Guzman looking at one of the juveniles sitting in the back of a police car. “They were [messing] around with a gun and now look at ‘em.”