Third Gang related slaying to take place in Salinas in the past 24 hours

third homicide to take place in Salinas in the past 24 hours happened Friday afternoon when a man was fatally shot in front of an apartment complex, police said.
The 24-year-old received multiple gunshot wounds to the torso at about 12:45 p.m. at 945 Del Monte Ave.He was pronounced dead a short time after police officers arrived at the scene. Officials are currently looking for the shooter who fled on Del Monte Avenue to an apartment complex on N. Sandborn Road.There is no word at this time if the shooting was gang-related and dozens of people who gathered around the crime scene gave little information to police about the gunman or gunmen, officials said.
The victim is the latest in a string of homicides -- nine in all -- to hit Salinas, a city of about 140,000.Less than 24 hours earlier, two teenagers were shot dead in the parking lot of 918 Acosta Plaza at about 8 p.m.Carlos Mejia, 17, and Francisco Alfaro, 16, were approached by two men who pulled out handguns and fired multiple gunshots, authorities said.Police Chief Dan Ortega said he isn't sure if Friday's shooting was in retaliation the shootings of Mejia and Alfaro.The chief did say, however, that the streets of Salinas would be heavily protected Friday evening and into the weekend."The gang task force is in town tonight (Friday) and we will still have operation Cal Grip with the CHP going on. So we're going to have the streets saturated tonight and this weekend," Ortega said.Police are investigating Thursday evenings shooting as gang-related, but the mother one of the teenagers gunned down said her son wasn't involved with gangs.Carlos Mejia was a bass player in the school band for years and was going to graduate from Everett Alvarez High School, his family said."There is nothing we can do. We were trying as hard as we can, he was always refusing, he was never trying to get in that (gangs). I don't know what to say," said Mejia's mother, Marta.Mejia's dad took him and his sister to school every day to watch his activity, and the family said Carlos refused gang life despite the pressures.Mejia's sister told KSBW Action News 8 she has no idea why anyone would go after her brother."They're going to regret what they did to him, because he didn't do anything bad," Vanessa Mejia said. "I don't know why they went after him if he never did anything to them, and I hope they get what they deserve for doing that to my brother."The rash of homicides comes just one day after Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue attended a summit in Santa Rosa along with officials from 12 other gang-plagued cities to talk about the need for sustained state and federal support.

Donahue said the $2.6 million he learned would be directed to Monterey County pales next to the $14 million he must cut from the Salinas general fund over the next three years.

At the current pace, 2009 would shatter the previous homicide record for Salinas that was set in 2008 with 25.

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Shooting death of Hugo Salinas brought the number of killings in the city to 20

"One homicide is one too many," Mayor Dennis Donohue said following the death of 17-year-old Hugo Salinas. shooting death of a teenage boy Tuesday brought the number of killings in the city to 20, just shy of 1994's high of 24. Police said Salinas was shot several times just before 9:30 a.m. in the 1300 block of Nogal Drive. He died there on the sidewalk and investigators searched for clues in the neighborhood, which sits atop a slight bluff overlooking Natividad Creek Park. Cmdr. Kelly McMillin said people in the area reported hearing one or two gunshots and then a car driving away. But investigators don't know if a vehicle was involved and they have no suspects. They did, however, say the shooting appears to be gang-related. It's a common thread with many of the other slayings and the scores of shootings in the city this year. "People that are not associated with gangs have much less to fear," McMillin said. "Gang members target gang members and associates. In the majority of our homicides, there is a clear gang connection." He said some of the slayings may be cases where the victim was mistaken for a gang member. But gangs have been ruled out in only one homicide, the stabbing death of a 46-year-old woman in February that police say was carried out by her boyfriend. Longtime anti-gang violence activist Deborah Aguilar, whose son was gunned down in 2002, sat on a sidewalk at the scene where Salinas was killed Tuesday and quietly sobbed.
Aguilar, an advisory member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program, vowed to fight the recent spate of gang violence in Salinas and the ongoing devastation it propagates.
"Regardless (if it was gang-related), it's another loss and another family devastated," said Aguilar, the founder of a support group for parents who have lost a child to violence. "We've got to unite and become strong. We can't let this evil win. We will beat this." After a relatively low number homicides in recent years — seven in 2005, seven in 2006 and 14 in 2007 — police say the number of homicides has increased this year because gangs are attacking rivals and their own members.
Donohue said he recognizes the concern the shootings raise in the community and that the level of violence in the city is unacceptable. He stressed however, as he has in the past, that the issue is being addressed. "We have a game plan and we are not going to deviate from one event to another," he said. Donohue said he anticipates that the California Highway Patrol and the Monterey County Sheriff's Office will soon join the city police department in its efforts to quell the recent wave of violence. Including the shooting death of Salinas on Tuesday, there have been nine suspected gang shootings that have left three people dead and nine others wounded in the last four weeks. Police Chief Daniel Ortega, Donohue, other city officials and representatives of the Sheriff's Office and CHP met Tuesday for the first time since the police department said it would ask for outside help last week. McMillin said increased police enforcement is effective in decreasing violence, but it does not get to the root of the issue. "The police department will never stop the fundamental problem of gang membership," he said. "The question is what does society at large have to do."

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Roberto Cervantes died at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in a San Francisco Bay Area hospital after he was shot several times in the upper body.

55-year-old man is the latest casualty of gang violence in Salinas and the city's 18th homicide victim this year. His death was the result of one of three shootings in Monterey County in a two-hour period late Tuesday.
Roberto Cervantes died at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in a San Francisco Bay Area hospital after he was shot several times in the upper body. Salinas police said he was wounded about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday outside his house in the 500 block of West Alisal Street. Investigators did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday and few details about the shooting have been released. Officers have said the slaying is being probed as a gang crime. They have not said if Cervantes was the intended target, nor have they elaborated on circumstances surrounding the shooting. Residents in the area, who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation, told The Herald they saw a car, possibly a late-model Nissan with tinted windows, speeding away moments after gunshots were heard. All but one of Salinas' homicide victims this year have been Latino males, who were shot. The non-shooting victim was a 46-year-old woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend. With four months left, this year is already the deadliest since 2004, when police reported 20 homicides for the entire year. The city has seen scores of other shootings this year. The second shooting Tuesday occurred about an hour and a half after Cervantes was shot, when officers responded to reports of gunfire in a North Salinas neighborhood. A 24-year-old man and a minor were shot several times in the upper body just after 10 p.m. in the 2100 block of Perez Street. The man's wounds were life-threatening and he was flown to a San Francisco Bay Area hospital. The 17-year-old was treated at a local hospital, police said. Officers did not release updated information on the man's condition Wednesday. They said it was unknown if the attack was gang-motivated or connected to Cervantes' shooting. In the past week there have been an additional four suspected gang shootings that injured five people in the city. But gang violence has not been isolated to Salinas. In the third shooting Tuesday, a 25-year-old woman was shot in the face about 10:30 p.m. in Soledad.
Police Chief Richard Cox said more than 20 rounds were fired at the house in the 400 block of San Diego Place during a drive-by shooting. Several people, including children, were in the house. The attack appears to be gang-related, police said.
The injured woman, who was not identified, was taken to a Salinas hospital and is expected to survive, Cox said. Few people have come forward with information about the shooting, and Cox said he worries about by-standers who might get caught in the middle. "There were kids in the house," he said.

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Juan Silva was struck in the foot and buttocks before reaching cover. His brother also was hit.

Salinas police said Juan Silva, 20, and his 14-year-old brother apparently were standing between two vehicles in the 1200 block of Paseo Grande, talking to their father when a green Honda drove by, made a U-turn and stopped in front of the residence.
Police said a passenger in the right-rear seat pulled a handgun and began shooting. Silva was struck in the foot and buttocks before reaching cover. His brother also was hit. The brothers were transported to a Salinas hospital by a relative.

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