With a recent attack at Kmart involving a suspected gang member
striking a 17-year-old with a hammer, along with a flurry of other
gang-related crimes, police hope to thwart a gloomy trend before it
intensifies.
With a recent attack at Kmart involving a suspected gang member striking a 17-year-old with a hammer, along with a flurry of other gang-related crimes, police hope to thwart a gloomy trend before it intensifies.
“We have our ups and downs,” Hollister police Sgt. Ray Wood said. “And it’s been heating up.”
What particularly bothers Police Chief Jeff Miller about the hammer attack and a daytime shooting March 16, he said, is the boldness of the actions. In both cases, multiple witnesses watched the incidents unfold.
“We’re seeing it more and more,” Miller said, “and it’s alarming all of us.”
Police believe the hammer attack, which occurred last Tuesday at the Hollister store, was the culmination of a verbal confrontation among rival gang members.
Police suspect the victim, whose name is being withheld because he’s a minor, could be a Norteno, and that the assailants are Surenos, according to police officials.
It is unclear whether the victim or the two suspects attend San Benito High School. Assistant Principal Santiago Echaore only confirmed those involved were “all high school students.”
After the attack, the 17-year-old was taken to Hazel Hawkins Hospital and suffered from unknown injuries to his head and legs, police said. He was later released after receiving six staples to his head and stitches to a leg, Wood said.
Employed at Kmart, the male apparently had been confronted by the two suspected Surenos in the store parking lot at about 9 p.m. – they followed him inside, according to the police report. The employee, according to Wood, “wanted to be left alone.”
During a physical confrontation that began in a store aisle, one of the suspects walked away and later came back with a hammer, police said. He began beating the 17-year-old on his back, Wood said. But it is unclear what part of the hammer he used to strike.
Police have surveillance video of the attack, but would not release it because minors were involved.
Both suspects escaped with someone who picked them up outside the store in a red four-door sedan, according to police.
Police officers arrested a 15-year-old male the following night. He was charged with assault and a gang enhancement, which could stiffen the penalty if convicted.
The other suspected assailant, also a teenager, remains at large. Wood described him as a 5-foot 5-inch-tall Hispanic male, about 150 pounds with a light complexion and short hair.
“Absolutely,” Wood said, the department is concerned over recent gang activity. As to whether the violent crimes are related to each other or a means of retaliation, at this point, he said, “We don’t know how to connect it.”
That assault with a hammer and the shooting outside Kragen Auto Parts – the suspected shooter is still at large – have been compounded by other resounding crimes.
Over the past week, a series of gang fights have occurred around town. Although, according to Echaore, the high school assistant principal, “We’ve had a quiet week here.”
San Benito High sophomore Arlene Macadaeg, however, said tension has been building lately, particularly last week, among gang members at the school.
Wednesday of last week, word circulated the campus of a major gang fight that was arranged to take place that afternoon, she said. It is unclear whether that planned event happened, or whether it was related to the hammer attack.
“That stuff is getting worse, all that gang stuff,” she said.
Another fight occurred during a San Benito High talent show Thursday night outside the school at Nash and West streets, according to Echaore. It involved adults and no students, he said.
And police received a witness report Friday of a gang-related fight – possibly involving more than a dozen residents – on Santa Ana Road. But by the time officers arrived, the alleged aggressors had disbursed.
Although gang-related activity has recently snowballed, Miller has been pleased with the investigative work of the department’s limited resources, he said.
He mentioned investigators identifying the Kragen shooter as Francisco Javier Olivera, a 32-year-old Hollister resident. Police also identified the prime suspect in another gang-related December shooting as Heriberto “Eddie” Bedolla.
But a spike in gang activity may be hard to combat because the Hollister Police Department faces pending budget cuts that will diminish an already lean staff.
The Police Department’s share of citywide cuts include, among other officers, the two gang prevention positions – including one officer that primarily safeguards local high schools.
For now, Miller said the department is in a “reactive mode, a responsive mode.”
Though gangs, he said, “remain a priority” for the Hollister Police Department.
“It’s there,” he said. “And we’re working hard on it, and we’re not giving up the fight.”
