A Ventura County gang member will spend between 60 years and the rest of his life in prison for killing a man with a sawed-off shotgun in December 2022 in an attempt to “impress” members of his gang.
On Thursday, the Ventura County District Attorney’s office announced that 24-year-old Michael Ortega of Oxnard was sentenced to 64 years to life in state prison for the killing of John Paul Carrillo.
Ortega was convicted by a jury in August on charges of murder, felony possession of methamphetamine and felony possession of a sawed-off shotgun.
Ortega was one of two men charged in the Dec. 5, 2022 killing of Carrillo.
Authorities said Ortega, his co-defendant Paul Ramos, and a third man, traveled to an apartment complex on Gonzales Road in Oxnard just after midnight where they confronted a man in the complex parking lot.
The man convinced the three that he was “in good standing with their gang,” and the men let him go.
They then confronted Carrillo in a nearby carport. Carrillo, who the D.A.’s Office says was not affiliated with any gangs, was punched and shot in the chest with the shotgun and pronounced dead at the scene.