Man Killed By OPD Officer Had Violent Past

Tuesday March 14, 2023

(Photo of Adam Barcenas circo 2019)

     The man who was shot and killed by an Oxnard police officer after he reportedly advanced on that officer and two others while holding a five foot long steel bar in a threatening manner had a violent past.

     The officer-involved shooting happened around 6 AM Sunday morning on Fourth Street near "A" Street in downtown Oxnard.

     60-year-old Adam Barcenas of Oxnard died later at VCMC.

     In April of 2019, Barcenas carried out separate random, violent, and unprovoked attacks on two elderly strangers on Sixth Street near "A" Street in downtown Oxnard.

     In the first attack, he approached a 71-year-old woman, punched her in the head, and pushed her to the ground and then kicked her several times before walking away.

     A short time later, Barcenas approached an 80-year-old man who was walking with his wife in the same area and he punched the man in the face, walked away, came back, and punched the man in the face a second time.

     The woman died eight days later but prosecutors did not file a homicide charge because they felt they could not conclusively prove that her death was tied to the beating because of significant preexisting health problems.

     So Barcenas pleaded no contest to two counts of felony elder abuse and spent half of a six year prison sentence before being paroled last year.