Shooting

Gunfire at a California Biker Bar Kills 3 people, Plus Shooter, and Wounds 5 Others

August 25, 2023 By Eugene Garcia 2 Comments

TRABUCO CANYON, Calif. (AP) — Gunfire at a popular Southern California biker bar killed three people and wounded five others, and the gunman — believed to be a retired law enforcement officer — was fatally shot by deputies, authorities said.

Some people stood in disbelief and others ran when a sudden flurry of gunshots broke out Wednesday evening at Cook’s Corner, in Orange County’s rural Trabuco Canyon, a witness said.

“It was like a madhouse,” Betty Fruichantie, who was in the bar, told NBC4 Los Angeles. She said she believes the shooter was the husband of a friend who was with her in the bar.

Her friend, Marie, dropped to the floor, but Fruichantie didn’t know whether she was hit. With bullets flying past her face, Fruichantie ran and hid in a restroom with others.

“And when we came out, people were on the floor and people were like over people trying to help them, just holding their wounds,” she said.

William Mosby, of Lake Forest, told The Orange County Register outside Providence Mission Hospital that his daughter, named Marie, was taken to UCI Medical Center after being shot. He initially heard she had been killed, he told the newspaper.

“I’m extremely relieved,” Mosby said. “What I heard was the worst.”

Authorities arrived within two minutes of the first report of a shooting after 7 p.m., and the gunman was also soon dead, Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said.

Dozens of patrol cars and ambulances swarmed the bar. Three other people and the gunman were pronounced dead at the scene.

Six others were taken to the hospital, five of them with gunshot wounds, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department posted on social media. Two were in critical condition, according to a statement from Providence Mission Hospital, in nearby Mission Viejo.

UCI Medical center confirmed in a statement that it received one patient from Providence Mission. It said there was no further information on that patient’s identity or condition.

The gunman was a retired officer with the Ventura Police Department, Cmdr. Mike Brown said the department was told by Orange County authorities, according to the Ventura County Star newspaper. He worked at the agency from 1986 to 2014, Brown said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was monitoring the shooting “and coordinating with local officials as more details become available,” his office tweeted.

Cook’s Corner has long been a place for motorcyclists to gather for live music, open-mic nights or just a cold beer after a long ride. It calls itself the oldest motorcycle bar in Southern California and hosts a regular Wednesday spaghetti night, with a band.

Hours before the shooting, rows of motorcycles and bikes framed the gravel entrance where plaques describe the bar’s history. It has become known as a community gathering spot for a wide range of people.

Click here to read the full article at AP News

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: cook's corner, Orange County, Shooting

CHP Looking for Information Into Fatal Milpitas Freeway Shooting of 5-year-Old Girl

April 11, 2023 By Zach Fuentes Leave a Comment

MILPITAS, Calif. (KGO) — The California Highway Patrol is looking for information into the deadly freeway shooting of a 5-year-old girl on Saturday in Milpitas.

It happened on I-880 near Dixon Landing Road while the family was on their way to dinner.

The young girl’s family tells ABC7 that Eliyanah would have turned six on April 21. Her family has asked ABC7 to withhold her last name due to their own safety concerns and we have done that.

Friends say that the 5-year-old and her family were on their way to Outback Steakhouse in Milpitas Saturday.

Just before 7 p.m., as they drove along I-880, a vehicle pulled up and someone inside that car started shooting.

“We had an officer that was on an unrelated traffic stop on the side of I-880 in the vicinity of Fremont area, approached about 6:40 p.m. by the victim’s family,” said CHP Lt. Shawna Pacheco. “They said that their daughter had been shot. So the 5-year-old girl was transported to a local area hospital and unfortunately succumbed to her injuries.”

The CHP is still investigating and has not released any information on a suspect.

This was just one of two separate shootings that multiple agencies across the East Bay and South Bay are investigating.

Before the deadly shooting that killed Eliyanah, Fremont police said they were contacted by a pedestrian who said that a car pulled up to them and shot at that person after some kind of confrontation. That call came in at 6:37 p.m.

Hours later, after a pursuit on Highway 17, Santa Cruz police stopped a car with three people they believe were connected to the Fremont shooting.

All three were arrested.

The CHP is not making any connection at this time, between the Fremont shooting and deadly freeway shooting.

Santa Clara University Professor Dr. Thomas Plante says there really isn’t a particular profile of someone who might shoot in a public place like a roadway.

“Certainly, impulse control is a variable. Another variable is people who are influenced by those around them, egging them on to do something,” he said. “The third is people that don’t have any feel for other people, lack of empathy for variety of reasons, that just doesn’t seem to be part of their skill set.”

As for 5-year-old Eliyanah, her family says she was looking forward to Easter and was excited about her upcoming birthday.

She was close to her siblings, especially her brother who was only 11 months in age apart from her.

CHP urges anyone with dashcam footage or other information to come forward by calling its tip line at 707-917-4491.

Friends of the family have started a GoFundMe page for those interested in helping.

Click here to read the full article in ABCNews

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: California Politics, murder, Shooting

Suspect in Shootings at Northern Calif. Farms Was Employee

January 25, 2023 By Olga Rodriguez and Haven Daley Leave a Comment

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — An agricultural worker killed seven people in back-to-back shooting sprees at two mushroom farms that had employed him in Northern California and the massacre is believed to be a “workplace violence incident,” officials said Tuesday as the state mourned its third mass killing in eight days.

Officers arrested a suspect in Monday’s shootings, 66-year-old Chunli Zhao, after they found him in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.

Seven people were found dead, and an eighth wounded, at the farms on the outskirts of the coastal community of Half Moon Bay, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office said seven of the victims were men and one was a woman. Some were Asian and others were Hispanic, and some were migrant workers.

“All of the evidence we have right now points to a workplace violence incident,” said Eamonn Allen, a spokesman with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. He said that Zhao used a semi-automatic handgun that was legally purchased and owned.

Allen said that Zhao he went in shooting at Mountain Mushroom Farm, where he worked, killed 4 people and then went to a farm where he used to work and killed another 3.

Aerial television images Monday showed police officers collecting evidence from a farm with dozens of greenhouses, which appeared to be the location where police found four dead. On Tuesday morning, police continued to block off the location.

California was still reeling Tuesday from an attack on a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, just outside Los Angeles, that killed 11 and cast a shadow over an important holiday for many Asian-American communities. Authorities are still seeking a motive for the Saturday shooting.

“For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence,” President Joe Biden said Tuesday morning. “Even as we await further details on these shootings, we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action.”

The new year has brought six mass killings in the U.S. in fewer than three weeks, accounting for 39 deaths. Three have occurred in California since Jan. 16, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. The database tracks every mass killing — defined as four dead not including the offender — committed in the U.S. since 2006.

On Jan. 16, a teenage mother and her baby were among six people killed in a shooting at a home in California’s Central Valley. Officials discussing the investigation mentioned a possible gang link to the killings.

Half Moon Bay Vice Mayor Joaquin Jimenez said the victims of Monday’s attack included Chinese and Latino farmworkers. Some workers lived at one of the facilities and children may have witnessed the shooting, she said.

The Sheriff’s Office first received reports of a shooting Monday afternoon and found four people dead and a fifth wounded at the first scene. Officers then found three more people fatally shot at a second farm nearby, Allen said.

About two hours later, a sheriff’s deputy spotted Zhao’s car parked outside a sheriff’s substation in a strip mall and arrested him.

“He did not actively surrender to us,” Allen told a news conference Tuesday, declining to answer a question on why Zhao had driven to the sheriff substation.

A video of the arrest showed three officers approaching a parked car with drawn weapons. Zhao got out of the car, and the officers pulled him to the ground, put him in handcuffs, and led him away. A weapon was found in his vehicle, officials said. The video was captured by Kati McHugh, a Half Moon Bay resident who witnessed the arrest.

The sheriff’s department believes Zhao acted alone.

“We’re still trying to understand exactly what happened and why, but it’s just incredibly, incredibly tragic,” said state Sen. Josh Becker, who represents the area and called it “a very close-knit” agricultural community.

Half Moon Bay is a small coastal city with agricultural roots, home to about 12,000 people, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Francisco. The surrounding San Mateo County is a mixture of coastal cities and hills dotted with farms, included floral and tree nurseries as well as ranches. The county also allows cannabis to be grown in greenhouses and at nurseries in some areas.

It’s a majority-white community. About a third of the population is Latino and about 5% is Asian, according to Census data.

“We are sickened by today’s tragedy in Half Moon Bay,” said San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine said. “We have not even had time to grieve for those lost in the terrible shooting in Monterey Park. Gun violence must stop.”

Click here to read the full article in AP News

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: Crime, half moon bay, Shooting

2 Fallen El Monte Officers Honored As ‘Brave Men’ at Vigil

June 20, 2022 By Brennon Dixson 1 Comment

Hundreds of San Gabriel Valley residents joined Saturday evening with public servants to unite at a vigil with family members of two slain El Monte police officers, who were remembered for their bravery and commitment to the community.

The sudden, violent loss of the two respected officers, Cpl. Michael Domingo Paredes, 42, and Officer Joseph Anthony Santana, 31 — both killed when they encountered a gunman inside the Siesta Inn on Garvey Avenue on Tuesday, June 14 — has shaken the overwhelmingly Latino community in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley.

“It’s unfortunate it takes tragedy to bring the community together. However, I am grateful that we are here to mourn the lives of these two brave men,” Mayor Jessica Ancona told the mourners Saturday gathered at the city’s Civic Center.

“They pursued their dreams and they did it with you — the family and the community,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, speaking in Spanish and English. “The community is standing with you.”

The pair of beloved officers were responding to a call about a possible stabbing just before 5 p.m. the day they died, officials said. They immediately came under gunfire and were taken to LAC + USC Medical Center, where they died. The suspect they encountered, Justin Flores, 35, also died in a shootout with police.

Both officers, raised in El Monte, had a strong connection to the community, according to mourners who added to a collection of flowers and messages of thanks at the police station this week.

Paredes had served as a full-time officer with the department since July 2000, working several specialized assignments before achieving the rank of corporal, officials said. He started his law enforcement career as a cadet with El Monte police.

Santana initially joined the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in September 2018 and worked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Sgt. M. Higgins, a SBCSD spokeswoman said. He was hired by the El Monte Police Department in 2021. He also previously worked with the city as a part-time public works employee prior to his law enforcement career.

He leaves behind his wife, a daughter and two twin boys.

Paredes also leaves behind his wife, a daughter and a son.

Olga Garcia, the mother of Santana, earlier this week described him as a reserved person who shared his relentless, cutting sense of dry humor with those he was close with. He liked to play basketball, was generous with his time when off-duty and always eager to help a friend in need.

While growing up, Santana looked up to his stepfather, who was also an El Monte police officer, his mother said. That relationship inspired him to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Like Santana, Paredes was also compelled to give back to the city that raised him, his uncle, Tony Paredes, said. He said that, as a child, the El Monte officer was kind, attentive and respected his elders.

He recalled when his nephew approached him about joining the police academy in the late ’90s and asked him to write a letter recommending the then-aspiring officer to the department.

Mayor Ancona was teary Saturday night and earlier this week, as were many others throughout town, as she explained how the sudden, violent deaths of the city’s sons has left her community reeling.

“Heartbroken doesn’t begin to express the loss that we feel,” Ancona said Tuesday night. She noted both officers were “essentially ambushed while trying to keep a family safe.”

El Monte City Councilwoman Victoria Martinez Muela at the vigil offered condolences to the officers’ families.

When thinking about what she wanted to say Saturday, she started thinking about what provides comfort.

“A blanket,” said Martinez Muela. And like one beautiful tapestry, “all of us our own unique thread. But woven together we are so strong.”

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: El Monte, Law Enforcement, Police, Shooting

Second Suspect Arrested in Sacramento Mass Shooting Is Brother of Man Arrested Monday

April 6, 2022 By Staff 3 Comments

Sacramento police have arrested a second suspect related to Sunday’s mass shooting downtown, announcing early Tuesday that the brother of the man arrested Monday is now in custody for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun.

Smiley Martin, 27, is the brother of Dandrae Martin, who was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail Monday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, police said.

The mass shooting killed six and wounded 12, and police said Smiley Martin was one of the wounded who was found at the scene near 10th and K streets with “serious injuries” and taken to a hospital for treatment.

“Smiley Martin was quickly identified as a person of interest and has remained under the supervision of an officer at the hospital while his treatment continues,” police said in an announcement early Tuesday. “Based on information developed during this investigation, Smiley Martin was taken into custody by Sacramento Police Department detectives on April 5, 2022.

“Once Smiley Martin’s medical care has been completed and he is determined to be fit for incarceration, he will be booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun.”

Online Sacramento Superior Court filings show criminal cases dating back years for individuals named Smiley Martin, but there appear to be different individuals with variations of that name and online records no longer provide personal identifying information online in Sacramento’s courts.

Smiley Martin posted a 15-minute Facebook Live video Saturday night, hours before the shooting, in which he appeared to be brandishing a semiautomatic handgun toward the camera at times. The authenticity of the video, which has since been removed, was confirmed by a law enforcement source.

Dandrae Martin also has a criminal background in Riverside County and the Phoenix area, records show.

He appeared in a cage in a jailhouse courtroom and spoke only once to confirm his name to Superior Court Commissioner Ken Brody.

“Yeah,” Martin said, when asked if that was his name.

The Public Defender’s Office declared an overload, and the case was assigned for now to lawyer Linda Parisi, who said there would be a decision later on which defense attorney would represent Martin and other defendants.

After court, Parisi described her client as “very somber, very somber.”

“You saw in court, this is very serious,” she said.

Dandrae Martin will appear in court again April 26.

Smiley Martin, 27, posted a 15-minute Facebook Live video hours before the shooting in which he appeared to be brandishing a semiautomatic handgun toward the camera at times. The authenticity of the video, which has since been removed, was confirmed by a law enforcement source.

Click here to read the full article at the Sacramento Bee

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: Crime, Sacramento, Shooting

Resist the Urge to Politicize Tragedy

December 4, 2015 By CPR Editors 2 Comments

This editorial was originally published by the Orange County Register:

Evil reared itself Wednesday morning at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. That’s when heavily armed husband and wife Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik made their way into Mr. Farook’s office holiday party and unleashed terror.

By the time the shooters fled, 14 were dead and another 17 wounded. It was the most carnage inflicted in the United States since six teachers and 20 children were shot and killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

The mass murder in San Bernardino was predictably sensational, as evidenced by the fact that #SanBernadino was shared on Twitter more than 333,000 times Wednesday – notwithstanding that the city’s name was misspelled.

No less predictable were the remarks of several political figures – both anti-gun advocates and foes of settling Syrian refugees in the U.S. – who apparently couldn’t resist the temptation to exploit Wednesday’s tragedy.

That included President Obama, who ranted to CBS News about the need “for commonsense gun safety laws,” while also urging Congress to enact legislation preventing individuals appearing on the government’s “No Fly List” from purchasing firearms.

But even if Mr. Obama got his wishes, it would not have prevented Wednesday’s carnage. That’s because California already has the nation’s strictest gun laws, based on the latest report card issued by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

As to enacting a law to prohibit those banned from commercial flights from legally obtaining guns, that would not have stopped Mr. Farook and his wife from obtaining their assault rifles and handguns.

That’s because neither of them was on the feds’ No Fly List, otherwise Mr. Farook, a Pakistani-American born in this country, could not have recently flown to Saudi Arabia and returned to the Inland Empire with his wife, Ms. Malik.

The myth promulgated by Mr. Obama and other gun control advocates that stricter gun laws will prevent the kind of mass murder that occurred in San Bernardino ignores an inconvenient truth …

Continue reading this editorial at OCregister.com/opinion

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: Barack Obama, San Bernardino, Shooting