http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20090113/NEWS01/90113002&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
More gun violence broke out in Salinas on Monday, killing three people in separate shootings -- including a 15-year-old boy -- and raising the city's homicide total to five already in 2009.
Since Friday, five males have been killed and four others injured in seven separate shootings. Police say at least six of the seven incidents are gang-related.
Just after 9 a.m. Monday police said a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot on the 700 block of Burke Street as he walked to school. The boy, a student at Alisal High School, was shot near a soccer field at the back of the campus. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries, police said.
Alisal High School and Alisal Union Elementary School were placed on lockdown as a safety measure for 30 minutes after the shooting, said Alisal High Principal Dan Burns.
The second shooting took place at 2 p.m. Monday. Police said James Lopez, 26, was driving west on John Street just before McGowan Drive when a light-green minivan drove up alongside of him. Words were exchanged and someone in the van started shooting at Lopez and his passenger, police said. More than a dozen shots were fired, some hitting Lopez. He stopped the car in a driveway at the 1300 block of McGowan Drive, where someone called an ambulance. Lopez was taken to Natividad Medical Center, where he later died at NMCof his wounds, police said.
The car passenger was taken into custody for questioning and later released, police said.
In Monday's third homicide, about 7:15 p.m., two people approached a parked car on Cortez Street near Mae Avenue and opened fire into the vehicle, wounding the driver and passenger multiple times in their upper torsos, police said. The driver was able to drive himself and passenger, Jose Guevarra, 17, to Natividad, where Guevarra was pronounced dead. The driver was flown to a Bay Area hospital. Police are investigating the homicide as gang-related.
This shooting happened in close vicinity to the first slaying of the year.
In that case, Luis Fernando Rodriguez Garcia, 34, died at 8 p.m. Sunday from gunshot wounds sustained in a incident early Friday morning. He was shot in the head at 2:15 a.m. after a brief argument with two men who had knocked on his door on the 1100 block of Cortez Street, allegedly looking for someone else, police said.
The second homicide of the year was reported at 6:30 a.m. Sunday after Salinas resident Frankie Espinoza, 20, died at a local hospital. Espinoza was shot several times while leaving a party at at 10:15 p.m. Saturday on the 1200 block of Tampico Avenue, police said.
Last year, 25 homicides were reported in Salinas, surpassing a 14-year record of 24 set in 1994.
Back at Alisal High, where Monday's first homicide victim was a student, Burns said administrators and counselors will be ready to help any student who might have known the slain 15-year-old.
"We are ready to deal with any kind of tragedy that spills into the school," he said. "We have counselors who know how to help students deal with grief."
Monday's two murders bring the city's homicide toll to four this year.
More gun violence broke out in Salinas on Monday, killing three people in separate shootings -- including a 15-year-old boy -- and raising the city's homicide total to five already in 2009.
Since Friday, five males have been killed and four others injured in seven separate shootings. Police say at least six of the seven incidents are gang-related.
Just after 9 a.m. Monday police said a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot on the 700 block of Burke Street as he walked to school. The boy, a student at Alisal High School, was shot near a soccer field at the back of the campus. He was taken to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries, police said.
Alisal High School and Alisal Union Elementary School were placed on lockdown as a safety measure for 30 minutes after the shooting, said Alisal High Principal Dan Burns.
The second shooting took place at 2 p.m. Monday. Police said James Lopez, 26, was driving west on John Street just before McGowan Drive when a light-green minivan drove up alongside of him. Words were exchanged and someone in the van started shooting at Lopez and his passenger, police said. More than a dozen shots were fired, some hitting Lopez. He stopped the car in a driveway at the 1300 block of McGowan Drive, where someone called an ambulance. Lopez was taken to Natividad Medical Center, where he later died at NMCof his wounds, police said.
The car passenger was taken into custody for questioning and later released, police said.
In Monday's third homicide, about 7:15 p.m., two people approached a parked car on Cortez Street near Mae Avenue and opened fire into the vehicle, wounding the driver and passenger multiple times in their upper torsos, police said. The driver was able to drive himself and passenger, Jose Guevarra, 17, to Natividad, where Guevarra was pronounced dead. The driver was flown to a Bay Area hospital. Police are investigating the homicide as gang-related.
This shooting happened in close vicinity to the first slaying of the year.
In that case, Luis Fernando Rodriguez Garcia, 34, died at 8 p.m. Sunday from gunshot wounds sustained in a incident early Friday morning. He was shot in the head at 2:15 a.m. after a brief argument with two men who had knocked on his door on the 1100 block of Cortez Street, allegedly looking for someone else, police said.
The second homicide of the year was reported at 6:30 a.m. Sunday after Salinas resident Frankie Espinoza, 20, died at a local hospital. Espinoza was shot several times while leaving a party at at 10:15 p.m. Saturday on the 1200 block of Tampico Avenue, police said.
Last year, 25 homicides were reported in Salinas, surpassing a 14-year record of 24 set in 1994.
Back at Alisal High, where Monday's first homicide victim was a student, Burns said administrators and counselors will be ready to help any student who might have known the slain 15-year-old.
"We are ready to deal with any kind of tragedy that spills into the school," he said. "We have counselors who know how to help students deal with grief."
Monday's two murders bring the city's homicide toll to four this year.
