By F. Scott Faulkner
May 12, 2025 – Ventura County, CA
A heated traffic altercation turned violent last month when gunfire erupted in unincorporated
Ventura County.
Now, 31-year-old Jose Luciano Valdez of Oxnard is behind bars, accused of
firing into an occupied vehicle during what the Camarillo Investigations Unit described as “a
road rage incident.”
According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Detective Nate Rushing, deputies
were dispatched to the scene in the early morning hours of April 9, 2025 “after reports of shots
fired.”
Witnesses at the scene described a tense standoff between two drivers stuck in heavy
traffic that “ended with one man allegedly opening fire before speeding away.”
Detectives from the Camarillo Investigation Bureau launched an investigation and quickly
identified Valdez as the suspected shooter.
A month later, on May 9, investigators tracked him down in Oxnard and took him into custody without incident.
Search warrants executed on Valdez’s vehicle and residence turned up two illegally possessed
firearms and more than 100 rounds of ammunition.
Valdez was transported to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on multiple felony
charges, including assault with a semiautomatic firearm and shooting at an occupied vehicle,
with his bail set at $80,000.
