Father of slain boy testifies in Modesto double-homicide trial

Epifanio Ramirez Sr. first started associating with the Norteño street gang when he was about 10 years old. His son was the same age when authorities say members of the gang opened fire at the Ramirez family’s Modesto home, killing the boy with a stray bullet.

The boy was not the intended target in the shooting. The bullet went through a wall and hit his head. His father on Tuesday described for a jury the moments after the shooting stopped. He went into his house and spotted his son, injured from the gunfire.

“He wouldn’t move,” Ramirez said. “I seen his eyes close.”

Aaron Aguilera, Randy Sifuentez and Joe Luis Ramirez are charged with murder in the shooting deaths of Epifanio Ramirez Jr., 10, and Jason Cyphers, 29. Joe Ramirez is not related to the boy or his father. Cyphers was in the home’s open garage with the boy’s father and three other people when shots rang out.

In the three defendants’ trial, testimony began Tuesday morning with Epifanio Ramirez Sr. on the witness stand, detailing his criminal past, his rise through the ranks of the gang and how leaving the gang eventually led to the deadly shooting. Initially, he didn’t cooperate with police, but said he has since changed his mind.

He told the jury he spent most of his life working as an accomplished drug dealer. He started selling heroin and cocaine in his late teens, earning a living that way. As a member of the Westside Boyz, a Norteño gang in Modesto of about 50 members, he protected his profits by keeping other dealers out of his turf.

In the mid-’90s, he moved to Waterford and said he set up drug houses there and in Oakdale and Riverbank. He was now selling methamphetamine, “because that’s when meth took off.” He was referring to the meth epidemic that took root in the Central Valley, creating a lot of manufacturers and users.

Norteños were involved in every aspect of his drug operation, Ramirez told the jury. He would rent homes in those cities just to sell meth there.

He spent a lot of time in and out of the county jail. Each time, he told incarcerated gang leaders everything. “We’re all connected, you know,” he said on the witness stand. “Whatever I had been doing on the streets, they already knew about it in jail.”

Each time Ramirez was released from prison, he said he would return to the Modesto area to set up new drug houses. But the gang started pairing him with another member, so his cut of the profits dropped.

Later, he said, he would rent a motel room along Modesto’s McHenry Avenue to sell meth. He knew the motel manager and rented the rooms using fake names.

After a three-year stint in prison in the mid-2000s, Ramirez decided he was done with the Norteños. After a couple of years, he said, started selling drugs again, except this time he was wasn’t sharing profits with gang leaders and didn’t have their protection.

He considered himself a “dropout,” a term used by gang members for someone who has left the gang. Some continue their criminal activity on their own or with other dropouts, but they can become targets for encroaching on gang turf.

Ramirez moved to a house in the 100 block of Santa Barbara Avenue in Modesto’s La Loma neighborhood. There, he said, he sold meth in what he knew to be Norteño territory. On June 16, 2009, he received a call from an associate who said he needed a ride; Ramirez said the associate was with Aguilera and Sifuentez and sounded scared.

He drove to Sifuentez’s nearby home to pick up the associate. Ramirez said he now believes it was a setup, and the associate led him into an ambush. When he arrived, Aguilera and Sifuentez and a third unknown man approached his car in a threatening manner. He testified that Sifuentez shot first.

Ramirez said he and one of his friends fired back. “All three individuals started running, so I started shooting,” he said on the witness stand. They drove away from the home. Hours later, he testified, Aguilera and Sifuentez drove to his Santa Barbara Avenue home, and Sifuentez fired at the house.

The house was riddled with bullet holes, but nobody was hit. Ramirez’s girlfriend lied to police, saying they knew nothing about the shooting. “We can take care of it ourselves,” he said about his mindset then.

On July 28, 2009, Ramirez was in his garage with his girlfriend and his three friends, including Cyphers. A black screen covered the open garage to keep bugs out. He said he also sold meth in the garage to known buyers.

They heard someone walking up to the garage. His friend asked who it was. Someone outside asked for Ramirez, who testified that the voice from outside sounded like Aguilera’s. Then the gunfire erupted. He saw Cyphers get shot.

As Ramirez tried to get up from a chair, a bullet struck his hand. He testified that he ran outside and spotted Aguilera and another man running from the home. He went back into the garage. “I tried to pick up Jason. He wasn’t moving,” he testified.

His girlfriend was the first to spot his injured son inside the house.

Defense attorneys are expected to cross-examine Ramirez on Wednesday as the lengthy trial continues in Stanislaus Superior Court.

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Father of slain boy testifies in Modesto double-homicide trial."