The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of three individuals connected to a shooting and vandalism investigation.
According to a media release issued by VCSO on Wednesday, three people were seen slashing the tires of multiple vehicles on Chiquita Lane near North Conejo School Road in Thousand Oaks in the early morning hours of Oct. 6.
Two uninvolved parties saw the vandalism and gave chase to the trio of suspects, who all fled the area on foot before being picked up by a white sedan, authorities said.
“The suspects made several U-turns in the neighborhood causing the suspect vehicle and the victim vehicle to face each other head on,” VCSO stated. “Several shots were fired from the suspect vehicle which struck the victims’ vehicle…the suspects then fled the area.”
Deputies and investigators arrived at the scene shortly after and located evidence related to both the vandalism and the shooting, VCSO added.
Through their investigation, authorities were able to identify the three suspects, all of whom are Thousand Oaks residents, and they were all taken into custody during “simultaneous and coordinated enforcement operations” on Tuesday morning.
The first suspect identified, 36-year-old Jimmy Cruz, had a search warrant served at his home after he was taken into custody. The warrant turned up evidence related to the vandalism and shooting, including a functioning police radio scanner, deputies confirmed.
Cruz was charged with two counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and felony vandalism. He remains in custody at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Center with his bail set at $700,000.
A woman was also taken into custody in relation to the vandalism and shooting; she was identified as Layla Hamideh, 38.
“Hamideh was contacted during a traffic enforcement stop…during the contact, a loaded semiautomatic non-serialized handgun – commonly known as a ‘ghost gun’ — was recovered,” VCSO stated. “Hamideh was traveling with three juvenile passengers in the vehicle and the gun was in an area easily accessible to the juveniles.”
She was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Center on charges including carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a concealed firearm within a vehicle, unlawful transfer of a firearm and child endangerment. She was released after posting $50,000 bail.
The third suspect, 18-year-old Michael Fay, was also arrested, and a search warrant served at his residence also turned up evidence pertaining to the crimes. He was booked for felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit a crime; he has since posted $40,000 bail and been released from police custody.
