By Sarah Elizabeth Villicana, The Porterville Recorder
More details are surfacing in the shooting death of Felix Platas Jr.

Notes from Gang Watchers Barrio Eighteenth STreet ??? On Friday Gang Watchers went over to the west side where this shooting took place & discovered this tag on Olive Ave. Tony Moreno from www.gangcop.com reported seeing this "BEST" tattoo on 18th St gang members from LA. He says it stands for "Barrio Eighteenth STreet". {pic} Could this tag have someting to do with the shooting ? Is this another move {hit} from the Mexican Mafia ? And will this case become cold as well ???

On Thursday, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department announced the autopsy results for the 33-year-old victim in Wednesday's shooting on the west end of Porterville.

After an autopsy, it was determined that Platas died as a result of excessive blood loss because of a gunshot wound.

Deputies initially thought they were responding to a routine traffic accident just after midnight Wednesday morning and ended up at the scene of a homicide.

Platas car reportedly struck a parked motorcycle and pickup before coming to rest on a dirt driveway in the 15400 block of Dogwood Street.

Emergency medical personnel pronounced Platas dead at the scene. No other victims were located .

In an odd coincidence, a nearby resident who heard the gun blast that killed Platas, also happened to be the victim's former girlfriend.

Maria Miranda, 31, said she dated Platas in junior high and in high school. She heard what she described as a “boom” and then “a big crash” around midnight - the approximate time of the shooting.

“I heard arguing,” Miranda said. “I heard a man yelling Felix's name and telling him to get out of the car.”

Miranda said when she heard Platas' name she wondered if it was the same Felix she had once dated.

“I thought, there's a lot of Felix's out there,” Miranda said. “A few minutes later I saw a shooting star and I got that feeling again that it was the same Felix. I thought about going over to check if it was really him.”

Now married with a family of her own, Miranda said sometime last week, her husband had seen the green Mustang parked near the same spot where Platas was shot. She said she knows her former boyfriend has been in trouble for selling drugs in recent years, but does not why he was in the area.

The full-time mom said she had not spoken to Platas since just before he was incarcerated, in 2003. One of the last things he told her was to stay out trouble.

“I told him ‘you're the one who needs to stay out of trouble'” Miranda said.

As of Friday afternoon, no suspects have been arrested in connection to Wednesday's shooting.

The Tulare County Coroner will conduct additional forensic tests to aid in the investigation into Wednesday's homicide.

Sheriff's detectives are now asking the public for any information that might assist them in their investigation. Contact Detective Jim Franks or Sgt. Eric Velasquez at 733-6523 during business hours or 733-6218 after hours. A toll free hotline is available 24-hours at (800) 808-0488.

Contact Sarah Villicana at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or svillicana@portervillerecorder.com.

This story was published in The Porterville Recorder on July 15, 2006