HOLLISTER
One of the more violent years in recent city history continued with three separate shootings over the weekend, the Hollister Police Department reported.
Ubaldo Servin, a 21-year-old Hollister resident, was shot in the thigh Saturday night, and the department is investigating it as an attempted murder, said officer Rosie Betanio, a spokeswoman for the Hollister Police Department. Servin told investigators he had heard the squealing tires of a white Lincoln at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday while he was walking home on Hawkins Street near Nolte Alley, Betanio said.
The victim told officers two Hispanic men yelled Norte and fired six shots at him, police said. Betanio said further investigation is needed, however, to prove if it was indeed an attempted murder.
“Some of the evidence could determine the wound was self-inflicted,” Betanio said.
The spokeswoman would not elaborate on what evidence was collected.
Servin was also on probation and arrested for felony drug possession and outstanding warrants after officers searched his home and he was released from the hospital, police said. Betanio said 14 grams of methamphetamine were confiscated Saturday night during a residential search.
At 5:42 p.m. Friday, meanwhile, a gun was fired from the street at a residence in the first block of Gonzalez Drive, police said. Betanio said residents were uncooperative with police.
The shooter fled in a Crown Victoria, hit a parked Ford pickup and continued northbound on Gonzalez Drive, officers said.
And at 2 a.m. Sunday, a residence was targeted with two gunshots in the 1300 block of Mesa Court, police said.
Four people were home at the time, but were not injured in the shooting, Betanio said. A bullet went through the front door and into a television, she said.
“As far as we’re aware, the victims are not gang-related,” Betanio said. “But the drive-by could, at least on one half, be gang-related.”
After the weekend, there had been six attempted murders and 20 drive-by shootings in Hollister in 2007, according to police records.
“This has been a pretty violent year for us,” Hollister police Capt. Bob Brooks said.
Brooks said the rise in violent crime this year reflects a statewide and possibly nationwide trend.
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s unique to Hollister that isn’t happening in the rest of the country,” Brooks said.
The captain, who has spent more than two decades on the force, said it has been one of the more active years he has seen.
There have also been three homicides within the city limits this year, and a fourth in the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction. Of those four, three remain unsolved.
Brooks said it’s hard to equate the violence to a particular group of people because for many of the shootings, there are no suspects. But juveniles have been behind some of the violence, he said.
“On the surface, it certainly seems that way,” Brooks said.
Gang-related violence also has been on the rise. Brooks said a community effort is needed to combat gangs.
“As far as the gang violence goes, the forums and the task force are a step in the right direction,” Brooks said. “People should be involved in that and educating themselves through the different training they put on.”
The passage of Measure T in November may provide the money to hire more officers.
Since 2004, the department has lost seven positions, Brooks said. He said Measure T will help, but it won’t immediately solve the violence problem in Hollister.
“We’ve got a long way to go just to catch up to where we were three years ago,” Brooks said.
