Showing posts with label Sureño gang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sureño gang. Show all posts

Carlos "Flaco" Espinoza was arrested Friday, along with Juan Nunez, Antonio Gayosso, both 19; and Julio Montoya, 21. They are accused of obtaining a gun, driving around in separate cars in search of rival gang members and shooting at them, according to court papers filed by the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.Prosecutors say Espinoza pulled the trigger in the shooting death of Jose Manuel Perez, 15.
All four defendants are charged with murder and related crimes, and prosecutors said they were acting on behalf of the Sureno street gang.Perez played football for Salinas High and was described Monday by Salinas Police Chief Louis Fetherolf as "an innocent bystander." Perez was fatally wounded at 2:15 p.m. Thursday on the 500 block of Terrance Street. He was walking to football practice at the time.
Nunez, Montoya and Gayosso appeared before Superior Court Judge Adrienne Grover on Monday, but their arraignment was delayed until 1:30 p.m. today because Espinoza had not been transported from Juvenile Hall to the courtroom.


Esteban Manuel Saidi died Wednesday night at Intermountain Medical Center of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies said. Two of the Saidi's classmates, also 16, were booked into juvenile detention. The suspected shooter, a sophomore, and his accomplice spoke with the high school safety officer and turned themselves in about an hour after the shooting. They were arrested at a nearby home. The gun was recovered in the area of the shooting. Sheriff's deputies would not confirm for publication the suspects' identities on Wednesday night.
Kearns High School shooting However, a person who identified himself as a relative of the alleged shooter said members of the Sureño gang had been harassing the shooter. Sheriff's officials said the shooting was gang-related, but they would not name the gang affiliations of the victim or the suspected shooter. Sheriff Jim Winder said the suspected gunman and the victim were known to gang investigators before Wednesday's shootings. Saidi was with at least two other people when he encountered the shooter and his accomplice around noon on a side street near the school, 5525 S. Cougar Lane (4840 West), said sheriff's spokesman Don Hutson. It was not clear whether there were others with the two suspects, he said. After Saidi was shot, two of his friends brought him to the school. Another student described the victim lying on the ground. "He was pale. He was dying. He was just laying there with a weird look in his eyes," said the student, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. The student said he had heard there was "supposed to be a fight" and was walking toward the scene to watch it when he saw Saidi. Hutson would not comment on the report that the noontime fight was planned. The student said he did not hear gunshots and did not know the victim. He said the school was locked down when he returned. The school reopened at 2 p.m. and will hold classes today, said district officials. A classmate who called himself Kyle said the suspected shooter was known to have gang ties and played on the school football team. "He is a nice kid," Kyle said. "I didn't think he would ever do anything like that." Dillan Davis, a 17-year-old junior, said gang members make little mystery of their affiliations. "It's not hard to tell. Everyone always wears colors," he said. "They're just kids; you can be friends with them. They're just regular." Other students, though, spoke of long simmering tensions between rival groups of Latino and Polynesian teens.
"It's not about ethnicity, really, it's about gangs. It was really bad last year," said 16-year-old Yesenia Rangel. At least three students were handcuffed Wednesday and detained after school for questioning. The students were involved in a fight, which may or may not, have stemmed from the shooting, said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley. Winder said that Kearns gangs lately have become more violent. "Just today in our staff meeting we were discussing ... tensions in this area," he said. Aaron Merlo , 18, and Francisco Cardenas, 17, said they have noticed the rise in violence. "After Panda Express, and then this right here," Cardenas said, referring a gang-related shooting Saturday at a West Valley City eatery. A 15-year-old gang member was shot and critically injured after he pulled out a machete during a fistfight with members of the rival Crazy Ass Mexicans gang, according to jail documents. A 21-year-old was arrested. "I don't like Kearns no more," Merlo said. "It used to be more peaceful." Senior Courtney McAfee, 18, said she's frustrated with the violence. "I just don't think people have to bring their business to school," she said. Parent Veronica Hollestelle said she is considering home-schooling her 10th-grade son, Alex, or moving him to a different district.
"I want to get him out," she said. "I'm done with this area." Others said they generally feel safe. "I don't walk through the halls scared," said sophomore Sierra Reid, 16. McKensie Rosenhan, a Kearns graduate, waited during the lockdown to get her 17-year-old sibling. "It sucks it happened here because we get such a bad rap. It's not a bad place at all." Alex Wiles, the Kearns High student body president, said the media have portrayed the school in the wrong light. "We don't have a gang problem," he said, adding that he's never seen a gun at school.

About 10 police cars flooded a south Gilroy apartment complex late Wednesday night to stop a possible gang fight, police said. Two women and a man were arrested on weapons charges stemming from the incident.
About 11 p.m., somebody in the apartment complex called police to report about ten young adults hanging out in the carport between 160 and 180 Southgate Court - off Church Street just south of 10th Street - said officer Joseph Deras. The reporting party said the people had weapons and were possibly preparing for a fight.
Two patrol cars, including a canine unit, came up to the driveway a few minutes later, Deras said.
The officers "heard sounds of metallic hitting the ground," he said. "We didn't know if that was a gun or what."
One of the men in the group ran to a silver truck at the south end of the carport, through something inside, and then ran and hid behind another car, Deras said. The two officers called for backup.Soon, 10 police cars with more than 10 officers were at the scene holding the group at gunpoint, Deras said. Police found multiple weapons including folding knives, rebar, tire irons and shaved stabbing instruments on the ground next to particular men and women. Police arrested two Gilroy residents - a woman and the man who hid behind the car - and a female San Martin resident for weapons violations, Deras said. One of the women might also have been drinking and, as she was on probation, could be arrested for probation violation. Police did not have the names or ages of the arrestees as of 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Police let the rest of the group go after checking if they had outstanding warrants and giving them a verbal warning, Deras said. In addition, police "identified them for future reference." The whole group was suspected of having been part of the Sureño gang.Deras said that Southgate Court, though "densely packed," was full of working families and was not known to be a problem area.Time to time on weekends we're here for loud music or people have barbecues," he said. "That's primarily what we're down here for."
The street was packed with cars and families peered from behind curtains to watch the arrest. Some groups stood outside in the chill air to see the police at work. However, when approached for comment, people scurried inside their apartments and closed their doors, claiming they did not see anything.
When pressed, they said they could not talk because they feared retribution by the gang members.

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