Hollister police grapple with escalating gang violence as family
is by a hail of bullets
Gang violence reared its head yet again this week when a hail of
bullets ripped through a private residence on Sherwood Drive in
Hollister, seriously injuring a 56-year-old man and terrorizing
seven other people in the house, including four children.
”
Without a doubt things are escalating,
”
said Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller.
”
But I’ve talked to a number of police chiefs (throughout the
Central Coast) and it seems like it’s happening everywhere.
”
Hollister police grapple with escalating gang violence as family is by a hail of bullets
Gang violence reared its head yet again this week when a hail of bullets ripped through a private residence on Sherwood Drive in Hollister, seriously injuring a 56-year-old man and terrorizing seven other people in the house, including four children.
“Without a doubt things are escalating,” said Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller. “But I’ve talked to a number of police chiefs (throughout the Central Coast) and it seems like it’s happening everywhere.”
After receiving a call that someone had been shot in a home on the 1000 block of Sherwood Drive – just yards away from Rancho Middle School – police arrived to find the injured man had been shot in the back and the face. The man was airlifted to a Bay Area trauma center and reported to be in serious but stable condition.
Some 15 shots were fired into the home shortly before 7 p.m. Monday. Among the eight people inside were four children, including an 11-month-old baby and three children aged 4, 5 and 10. None of the children were injured.
The injured man, whose name is being withheld for his own protection, was standing in his kitchen when the house came under siege, presumably by gang members driving by the residence. Investigators say the male victim is not a gang member, nor were any of the other people inside the house at the time of the shooting. However, investigators believe a gang member normally does reside in the home, but wasn’t there at the time of the incident.
“We are investigating it as if it were gang-related,” Miller said, and when pressed, he said police believe the assailants could be of the “Norteno” gang.
The shooting is just the latest in a string of violence that has erupted throughout the region from south San Jose to Salinas. Morgan Hill recently suffered a gang-related homicide, while a gang-related shooting occurred in Gilroy.
In October gang members opened fire on three people who lived just blocks away from one another on Central Avenue. No one was killed, but police officer George Ramirez, who is investigating Monday’s shooting, said the audaciousness of the violence is ramping up.
“They’re getting bolder and bolder,” said Ramirez. “In the Central Avenue shootings, shotguns were used. These are high-powered weapons not easily concealed. Now we have an incident where 15 rounds were fired into a family’s home.”
Ramirez said following the incident, police questioned possible witnesses but that they all clammed up.
“Fifteen shots on a home. I think it’s reasonable that someone out there saw something, knows something,” a frustrated Ramirez said. “Once again we’re facing reluctance from possible witnesses as to what they’ve seen.”
Ramirez said he understands that potential witnesses fear retaliation, but that not coming forward perpetuates the violence.
“It makes our job a lot more difficult,” Ramirez added. “Silence is consent. So how much longer do we stand for this? If you don’t say anything you’re pretty much saying it’s OK.”
The police are asking that anyone with information on the shooting contact Det. Tony Lamonica or the Watch Commander of the Hollister Police Department at 831-636-4330. Callers can talk anonymously.
