Pair Report Being Attacked in Park

Two friends in a Ventura park on Sunday night were allegedly attacked by four men for no apparent reason, police said.

Richard Neal, 19, and Valerie Ippolito, 22, both of Ventura, said they were at the park at 342 E. Main St.about 10:20 p.m. when four men arrived and began hitting them. The pair were not seriously injured, a Ventura police spokesman said.

Arrested in the attack were Michael Coleman, 31; Gabriel Gonzalez, 28; Maxwell Coulson, 30, and Randall Sherman, 26, all from Oxnard.

Gonzalez allegedly picked up a skateboard and hit Neal with it, while Coulson pulled out a gun and pointed it at the victims, the spokesman said.

The four men then jumped into a car and sped away but were stopped by Ventura police officers on the Ventura Freeway. Police say one of them tried to throw the gun away during the pursuit.

The men were booked into Ventura County Jail, but Coleman and Sherman were later released, a jail spokeswoman said. Gonzalez remains in custody charged with assault, the spokeswoman said. His bail was set at $20,000. Coulson also remains in jail charged with exhibiting a firearm in a threatening manner. His bail was set at $1,000.