HIS BROTHER’S KEEPER—Angel Luevano was shot and killed Dec. 5, 2003 on Ashland Avenue after a confrontation with Simi Valley gang members. His killer, Daniel Ramirez, was sentenced to life behind bars last week. Today would have been Luevano’s 36th birthday. Martha never drives near the intersection of Ashland Avenue and Third Street in Simi Valley. In fact, she avoids the city altogether if she can. So do her kids, her brothers and her mother.

Six years ago, a Simi gang member shot to death Martha’s youngest brother in that neighborhood.

And although the man who killed Angel Luevano was sentenced to two life terms in prison last week, the family’s fears haven’t been put to rest.

“I’m always watching my back,” said Martha, whose last name is being withheld for safety reasons. “I don’t look at faces. Even when I’m driving, looking in my mirrors, I just look at the cars, not the people. My brother Martin tells me, ‘Don’t look straight at a person.’ That’s when he got in trouble.”

Though gang-related homicides are rare in Simi Valley—officers estimate there have been about six in the last 15 years—Angel Luevano’s story shows why no gang should be considered nonviolent.

“Angel’s brother (Martin), his family, their world is shattered,” said Detective Jay Carrott of the Simi Police Department, who was responsible for key arrests in the case. “I’ll never convince them that what happened to their brother isn’t going to be a reality for anyone else in their family. What can you say to them to put them at ease?”

Senseless shooting In December 2003, Martin Luevano was driving home from work in his souped-up Cadillac when three men in a Tahoe SUV boxed him in.

“Martin said they started throwing up gang signs,” according to Martha. “He said he was scared that they were going to steal his car or shoot him. He called Angel and told him what happened.”

Later that day, the two brothers stopped by a friend’s house on Ashland Avenue.

Martin went up to the door and Angel waited outside. As Martin walked down the driveway, he saw the Tahoe SUV driving slowly up the street.

What happened next isn’t entirely clear.

“Martin doesn’t talk about it,” Martha said. “We don’t know all the details. It’s too much for him.”

According to police reports, there was an argument that resulted in one man in the car, Daniel Ramirez, pulling out a handgun. He shot Angel, who was unarmed, once in the neck.

Martin told his family that Angel pushed him out of the way of the bullet.

Ramirez was found guilty of Angel’s murder last month and sentenced Tues., Oct. 6 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In April 2007 the Simi Valley Police also charged Luis Casillas, 32, of Chatsworth and Mario Nitrini, 25, of Agoura Hills with first-degree murder in connection with Angel’s death, but both made deals with the district attorney’s office. Neither is in prison.

Nearly six years later, the Luevano family still fears the gang behind Angel’s murder.

“For more than two years, I didn’t go to Simi Valley,” Martha said. “My brothers didn’t want us to. I have to go there sometimes to run errands, but still to this day that’s how we live. We don’t know if somebody is watching us. We’re scared.”

Carrott said Martha’s fears can’t be entirely dismissed.

“I talk to victims who are afraid or nervous about retaliation, but in reality I’ve never seen it happen. Then again, I don’t put anything past these idiots in gangs,” he said.

There was an incident of witness intimidation during the trial, and gang member Victor Loza, 19, served time for harassing the unnamed witness. Loza was arrested recently in connection with the stabbing of rival gang member Reynaldo Munoz.

Martha said Martin didn’t want her to go to court to hear the verdict.

“He feared for my life, but he needed support,” Martha said. “I told him, ‘I don’t care. I want to see the guy face to face.’”

Family shattered

The day of Angel’s murder still haunts the whole family, most of whom don’t talk about the tragedy.

Immediately after the shooting, Martin had trouble getting through to 911 on his cellphone, so he called his wife, who notified Angel’s wife. Angel’s wife and daughter beat the ambulance to the scene. Angel’s daughter was only 10 when she saw her father dying in the street.

“She saw her father there, shot to death on the ground,” Martha said. “Still to this day, she is so traumatized she doesn’t speak about what happened. It’s hit all of us very, very strongly.”

For a year and a half after his brother’s murder, Martha said, Martin couldn’t switch the water in the shower from the bath faucet to the showerhead because it reminded him of Angel’s death.

“He said the ‘poof’ noise of the pressure change, it sounded the same as when Angel was dying because of all the blood he was losing,” Martha said. “After Angel was shot, Martin pressed his hand over the (gunshot wound). His hand kept pushing back because of the pressure of the blood.”

The last time the entire family was together before Angel’s murder was Thanksgiving, just days before his death. Because of the memory, the Luevanos don’t celebrate the holiday anymore. Christmas is done mostly for the kids, Martha said.

“It’s just not a day to give thanks anymore,” she said. “My brother was the one holding us all together. Now it’s like a part of each of us has died. We don’t have that joy we used to have to be together.”

Carrott said the grief is hard for others to imagine.

“None of us can ever understand what they go through, how this changed their lives,” Carrott said. “A person may pay a substantial price, but nothing justifies the loss of their loved one.”

Killer sentenced

Ramirez was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole because of a special circumstance—the murder was committed to benefit a street gang.

He was also found guilty of first-degree murder for the unrelated slaying of Luis Torres in January 2007 during the same trial.

Senior Dep. District Attorney Maeve Fox has said Ramirez’s lawyers plan to file a motion for a new trial, which is “standard.”

“There was a very hotly contested severance motion before the trial that the defense lost,” Fox said. “They wanted to try the two murders one after the other with separate juries instead of together. The judge ruled against them. I’m sure that will be the issue when they (file for a new trial).”

Ramirez’s lawyer, Willard Wiksell, argued that his client killed Luevano in self-defense.

Ending the cycle

Within the tight-knit family, Angel and Martin were like twins.

“They were joined at the hip,” Martha said. “They talked to each other 15 times a day. Since they were little they were like that.”

Yet despite Martin’s grief over his brother’s death, he never considered retaliation, she said.

“He always said, ‘I’m not going to do anything stupid,’” Martha said. “’I’m not going to go to jail and leave my kids with no dad.’ He had a pact with Angel that if anything ever happened, Martin would take care of (Angel’s daughter). Before he died, Angel reminded him of the pact.”