Ventura man fires gun after getting upset by teen partygoers at Pierpont Beach, police say

A Ventura man allegedly fired a shot into the air after confronting a group of teenagers partying at Pierpont Beach, police said Tuesday.

Robert Felix, a 42-year-old man who lives in the area, was "upset by some disturbance caused by the partygoers" as they were celebrating their upcoming high school graduation Monday night, the Ventura Police Department said. He allegedly approached the group while swinging a golf club at them before going back inside his home and coming back out shortly after.

That's when he allegedly brandished a firearm at the teens and then fired one round into the air, police said.

"Someone yelled like 'He pulled out a gun!'" Ventura High School student Dani Diaz said. "Everyone started running and he like shot a shot into the crowd."

Police received several 911 calls about the gunfire and responded to the area of the beach near Norwich Lane just before 8:30 p.m. Felix was arrested and booked into Ventura County Jail.

"It wasn't facing the air or anything. It was pointed straight into the crowd, pretty much from what I saw," Diaz recalled. 

No one was injured. No other details have been released by police. 

Diaz said its tradition for students to hang out at the beach on Fridays during the end of the school year. She added that someone was shooting off fireworks before the shooting. However, she claimed that students were just swimming and having fun. 

With graduation just days away, the incident left some students shaken up. 

"It kind of ruined our like graduation basically," Diaz said. "I know a lot of people are dealing with anxiety and stress because of it."