Police Chief Mike Boudreaux speaks to the media near the scene of a deadly shooting in Visalia, California, on Jan. 16. Boudreaux said Friday that two gang members are suspected in the massacre of six who last month in central California was arrested, one after a gunfight.
Tulare County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File
hide captions
switch captions
Tulare County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File
Police Chief Mike Boudreaux speaks to the media near the scene of a deadly shooting in Visalia, California, on Jan. 16. Boudreaux said Friday that two gang members are suspected in the massacre of six who last month in central California was arrested, one after a gunfight.
Tulare County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File
VISALIA, Calif. – Two gang members were arrested early Friday, one after a gunfight, during January massacre six people including a baby at a home in central California that was linked to a rival gang, the Tulare County sheriff said.
Police Chief Mike Boudreaux said 25-year-old Noah David Beard was taken into custody and Angel “Nanu” Uriarte, 35, was wounded in a gunfight with federal agents and is undergoing surgery, but is stable. and is expected to survive.
“I’m so glad we were able to put these two men in jail,” the sheriff said.
Boudreaux said during a news conference at the sheriff’s headquarters in Visalia, the suspects and the victim’s family members had a long history of gang violence but the motive for the shooting was “not really clear.” .
The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office charged both suspects with six counts of murder and other counts. Prosecutors said the men could potentially face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Six victims, including a teenage mother and her child, were shot dead January 16 in rural Goshen, a community of 3,000 in the San Joaquin Valley.
Authorities say both suspects have been under round-the-clock surveillance since January 23 in a major investigation that culminated in Friday’s arrest and involved detectives, public prosecutors and public prosecutors. prosecutors, the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Administration, and other law enforcement agencies.
Boudreaux said search warrants were executed at locations in Goshen and Visalia, and about eight inmates’ cells linked to the Nuestra Familia prison gang were searched in five state prisons.
He said the sheriff’s administration waited until they had DNA evidence to make arrests to strengthen the case. No further details of the evidence were provided.
Both suspects had previous criminal acts. Uriarte was convicted in 2015 of gun assault charges related to a street gang, and Beard has a juvenile record, prosecutors said in court filings.
The victims were identified as: Rosa Parraz, 72 years old; Eladio Parraz, Jr., 52 years old; Jennifer Analla, 49 years old; Marcos Parraz, 19 years old; Alissa Parraz, 16 years old; and Nycholas Parraz, 10 months.
A surveillance video released by authorities on Friday showed a teenage girl running outside and placing a child on the other side of the fence, then jumping over herself. Authorities said Beard fatally shot the teen and the baby, both found dead on the street, shot in the back of the head.
Among the adult victims was a woman who was found kneeling and shot in the head, authorities said.
The sheriff said Alissa Parraz had just been given full custody of her son after he spent months in the foster care system. The two were reunited on January 13 – three days before they were killed.
The Goshen murders were part of a month of violence and death in California.
On January 21, a shooting incident at a Monterey Park disco killed 11 people and wounded nine. The gunman then committed suicide. On January 23, the shooting at two Half Moon Bay farms killed seven people and wounded one before the suspect was caught.
