Teen tagger accused of killing gang interventionist charged as adult

L.A. prosecutors have charged a teen tagger accused of killing a gang interventionist as an adult.

Mark Anthony Villasenor, 16, is accused of fatally shooting 40-year-old Ronald Barron, who confronted Villasenor for tagging a wall in the Mid-City area.

Barron was leaving a bar with his girlfriend when he noticed a tagger defacing a wall on Pico Boulevard.

The Los Angeles Police Department said surveillance video from nearby businesses captured the Feb. 6 killing in the 5000 block of West Pico Boulevard.

The footage appeared to show a gunman wearing dark-colored clothing arguing with Barron in front of "numerous witnesses," LAPD detectives said.

His slaying stunned colleagues at Amer-I-Can, where Barron had worked for more than a decade.

The loss was also felt at City Hall and LAPD headquarters, where officials rely on gang interventionists like Barron to help reduce the grip of gangs in some neighborhoods.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Leonardo Silva Horta]

The crimes increased in the last decades. In my opinion, only when all of the men to think in God this situation can change. Only Jesus Cristo can survive!

[Mike]

Video Footage, Numerous Witnesses. Skip the trial.

[whamo]

The death penalty would make other teenagers think twice before performing similar acts, save taxpayers a fortune, and be an equitable punishment for the crime.

[DeWayne]

I live in Orange County but spend several days a week in San Pedro. The amount of tagging along the freeway varies as you go from east to west with Long Beach leading the way. Where I live there is a graffiti hotline and when I am out walking or riding my bicycle I capture any recent tagging with my IPhone camera and e-mail the picture and location to the hotline. The city or County of Orange usually removes the tagging within a few days. I often wonder how these large tagging that must take hours to complete are not seen by law enforcement during the production or do they really care?

[Andy Eppink]

Man, life is cheap. That attitude is a direct outgrowth of our murderous abortion mindset, the effects of which pervade the whole of society. When will people wake up and refuse the leadership of the intellectual crazies who, starting with the prevailing 'judges' in Roe vs Wade, propelled us on our downward spiral.

Without the useful idiot fraction of the population the leftist crazies would have no influence at all. Our callous and uncaring cruelty is catastrophic and dismaying.

[Serf6]

This is why I have always supported the death penalty. Justice must be strong, swift, and just. The current stay on executions has made a laughing joke of the state's power to impose the "maximum" punishment. Recently, an OC murderer asked for the death penalty, as he knew the state lacked the moral courage to actually go through the process. The death penalty should not be taken lightly, but to not put it into practice is to keep the state's ultimate means of justice on the shelf.

[alinla]

The death penalty is not necessarily a crime deterrent. Many young people do not realize the dire consequences of the choices they make and the crimes they commit. Whether it be a westside teen driving drunk, killing their passenger or a tagger killing someone trying to stop him from tagging. Unfortunately teens think they are invincible and they do not understand the gravity of their decisions and crimes.

A stronger education system, after school care and extracurricular programs along with strong gang intervention initiatives seem a more positive approach to the problems. All this in conjunction with parental involvement are the keys to helping the youth of Los Angeles survive and thrive. And yes, isn't it time we in America focus on America and our children to strengthen them in mind and spirit?

[syscom3]

Andy Eppink, so there is a link between homicides and abortion?

[gemjyor]

Why was he risking his life dealing with a tagger? Please people out there,some of these writings take hours to do and don't belive that the police don't see them they do.When you are out with your lady have a good time with her and leave all the stuff for the police.Some of the taggers are good artists and make the area look better

[Dee]

Liberals are moral cowards and responsible for the decay of our society and disgusting acts like this.

[Mo Zeb]

My feelings exactly........video tape of the shooting and witnesses? Skip the trial, use the money that would have foolishly been spent to "double convict" this kid and spend it to keep another family off the street, and go right to the execution.

I'm sure the taxpayers would be thankful for saving a half-million dollars on the trial and another one and a half-million keeping this kid in jail for the next 56 years waiting for the death penalty to be applied!

Put him down.

[Ambivalent]

@Andy Eppink
Funny, I arrived at a totally different conclusion about the role abortion might have played in this crime.

[Kittybarfola]

Who cares if the death penalty is a crime deterrent. There are some (stupid) people who refuse to learn the lessons of the past (of others) and end up doing the same thing anyway. Let them find out the hard way. If they don't know any better, then let natural selection take its course. It's only a deterrent if people learn what they're actions will result (what they sow, they will reap). A dog will return to it's vomit. I am glad he is being treated like an adult. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to others; if they're smart enough to learn.

[David]

The City of Long Beach has a great program for dealing with graffiti. I called the hotline from work a couple of months ago and got the voicemail box. I followed the instructions and being a cynic, figured it would be days or weeks before the tagging was painted over... if they even got around to it. When I got home from work six hours later it was gone. Tagging is a community problem. The community needs to deal with it, and that means reporting it.

[Dee]

If I hear that "gang interventionist" one more time I am going to throw up into my mouth... call it Karma or whatever you want but I bet this dude had coming to him what he got!

[effen_what]

Why do people think they have some sort of superpower and can approach anyone without consequences. The guys with his girlfriend and should of went home. Instead he wanted to prove something and lost his life for nothing. Its a shame but maybe we should learn that not all situations can be confronted head on. its a shame. May he rest in peace and the little bugger will rott in prison forever.

[Smells like a duck... and I ain't white, either]

Hey Al, how about YOU pay for this stuff below. Government can't help people who dont' want to help themselves. And spare us, stop with the racial "Westside" insinuations as well. EVERYBODY KNOWS the truth about the perp and those like him. But nobody can say it out loud for fear of being labeled a racist, a xenophobe, or God knows what else. Last time I checked, we had a black guy as president and a foreigner as governator. The former's dad, BTW, split--so Obama was raised by his... you guessed it. Love thy neighbor means if the punk next door has a shaved head/baggy clothes/etc, call the cops so the rest of us hardworking taxpayers who DON'T write on other people's walls can enjoy peace in a gang-free paradise of all colors.

A stronger education system, after school care and extracurricular programs along with strong gang intervention initiatives seem a more positive approach to the problems. All this in conjunction with parental involvement are the keys to helping the youth of Los Angeles survive and thrive..."

[Khun Bill]

The death penalty does deter.It deters the deceased from repeating his crime,and deters me from a life of crime.This is proof beyond a reasonable doubt(except for ignorant liberals) that the death penalty deters,just like punishment for all crimes deters.

[John S.]

Andy Eppink likes connecting strange dots which make zero logical sense. How is it that abortion is legal in Japan and Australia, but gun deaths are WAY lower Andy? Let me see, is it because there are less guns? Funny how that works.

This is a highly complicated issue and the comments by alinla are right on...it all starts with good parenting and good education. Good parenting will not create a utopian society, but will improve our society.

[J]

@ Andy... Stay on topic, if you have something to say about your ideas on abortion then wait for a piece on just that...

RIP Ronald Barron. Someone will have a wake up call, for the next 25-35 years, in jail.

[Bob]

Sometimes I wonder about some of you posters. And people claim America is a christian country.... Did Jesus support the death penalty??

[gregory gross]

The shooter just graduated to Grad School for Thugs U; he will get hardened inside, and come back completely loco. But of course society failed him...whattajoke.

[no sanctuary]

Whamo, I agree to some extent, but I think these disadvantaged youth should be given a second chance. The Chileans had a good system: helicopter them off the coast a few miles at midnight and drop them from 500 ft., just to see if they can swim back in their baggy pants. Anyone making it back would only get life in prison. That seems more than fair.

[Siempre Barca]

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[Siempre Barca]

The other night I was in a club in Long Beach. The female rappers had a rap for "writers" as they called it. Even if graffiti teenagers knew the cost of graffiti, they would still use it because they know they can get away with it due to California's lenient juvenille legal system. Some might argue that these teens are trying to put their stamp on the world. But there is always a cost to those of us who live in the real world: deaths of well-meaning citizens who may be loved ones, loss in property values, and civic blight. I also recently was headed on the 110 North headed to the 101 South. I passed by a 10 W sign that was fully destroyed by some graffiti artist. Except for the green border of the Interstate sign, everything was covered in bluish, white ink. The City Council ought to pass the legislation that mandates liens on the parents' houses of every known graffiti artist. I