In the span of just over 14 hours, four people were shot in two separate incidents in Salinas over the weekend, leaving two cousins dead.
According to a press release from the Salinas Police Department, ShotSpotter picked up several gunshots in the 1100 Block of Granada Ave. around 7:30pm, Saturday, Jan. 27.
Several people also called police saying a man and woman had been shot. The man was pronounced dead at the house and the woman died later during surgery for her wounds at Natividad Medical Center.
It turned out the two were cousins attending a house party. They were later identified as Salinas residents Anthony Carmen Gomez and Yvonne Flores, both age 38.
Two men walked up to the garage where people were gathered and starting shooting, hitting the cousins. No one else was injured. The shooters then ran southbound on Granada toward Rosarita Drive.
The shooting is being investigated as gang related.
Gomez and Flores are the second and third homicides of the year for Salinas after 14-year-old Enrique Sosa was gunned down while walking on Russell Road on Jan. 18.
Two other people fared better Sunday, Jan. 28. Just before 10:00am, police were dispatched to the 1100 block of Pacific Ave. where they found a 24-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman shot suffering from gunshot wounds.
The two were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive, according to a press release.
Police believe they were confronted and shot by a Hispanic man while they were sitting inside their vehicle.
Editor's Note: The post was updated to include the identifications of the homicide victims, provided by the Salinas Police Department.
(1) comment
The continuing violence is evidence of failed city manager and police management. This is a long standing issue of funding other areas, except law enforcement, and you get this outcome. More libraries, or other community programs being funded is not going to stop the violence. You are not going to "nice guy", educate or build infrastructure your way out of this.
How is community policing a proper model to fight gang warfare, which has been raging in the city for YEARS? You are mere miles from two prisons and their attendant populations. Since Salinas PD management can't hold onto grants from the Feds (Salinas PD Mgt this is you) and you can't even get SROs into schools, perhaps clearing out a failed city manager (Google Ray Corpuz and read all about that loser) and his crappy Salinas PD hires will help. T
Time for new blood. Chief Frese, is hiring MORE MANAGERS not front line staff and pissing off the officers. Certainly no way to keep turn over low and fight the violence. Quite a noticeable lack of planning to address the violence. Nibbling around the edges with "programs" and other management fixes is not beating boots on the street. Continued violence only makes the incompetence glare that much brighter.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.