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Harrowing images have emerged of a 16-year-old mother and her six-month-old son who were among six people shot dead in a central California home in what police described as a “horrific massacre.”
The baby was found cradled in the arms of its mother, Alissa Parraz, in a ditch outside the home early Monday morning. Both had been shot in the head when Parraz tried to flee with her young son.
Authorities are looking for at least two suspects in what appeared to be gang-related slayings, sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. to reports of multiple gunshots at the home in Goshen, just east of Visalia, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Actually, the report was that an active shooter was in the area due to the number of shots being fired,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters.
The infant was found cradled in the arms of her mother, Alissa Parraz, in a ditch outside the homes.
Police say the killings appear to be targeted. The baby and his mother were trying to run away when they were shot in the head.
Alissa Parraz, who was one of six found shot to death, had posted about her pregnancy online
The baby and his 16-year-old mother had been shot in the head in the brutal murders.
Agents found two dead victims on the street and a third person shot to death in the driveway of the residence, Boudreaux said.
Three more victims were found inside the home, including a man who was still alive but later died at a hospital, he said.
The sheriff said investigators are looking for at least two suspects, but have not yet released the identities of any of the victims, nor have they released a description.
Two people survived by hiding inside a trailer on the property.
‘They could see two men sneaking onto the property… but when they arrived [the video feed]it was too late to do anything,’ the Sheriff said.
Tulare County sheriff’s officials say six people, including a 16-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby, were killed in a shooting early Monday at the home in central California.
Two people were found dead in the street and one was found at the door of the house
They believe there is a gang connection to the murders. The sheriff’s office served a narcotics-related search warrant at the residence last week, Boudreaux said.
“We also believe that this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family,” she said.
Detectives believe there are at least two suspects. It seems that this family was attacked and there are gang associations involved, as well as possible drug investigations.
I think it’s specifically related to the poster. The level of violence… this was not a run-of-the-mill, low-level gang member,” Boudreaux explained.
‘Yes [they] they are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing… [and] they’re comfortable with what they’re doing,’ the sheriff said.
“I have more information, but I’m not at liberty to discuss at this time,” Boudreaux said. “We have potential information, which will hopefully lead to possible suspects.”
“A week ago, TCSO detectives served a narcotics search warrant at the victims’ home,” a spokesperson added.
I think it’s specifically related to the poster. The level of violence… this was not a run-of-the-mill gang member,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters.
Police continued to process the crime scene throughout the day on Monday.
Two of the victims, the young mother and her son, were shot in the head, the sheriff said.
Samuel Pina said Monday that his teenage granddaughter, Alissa Parraz, and her baby boy, Nycholas Nolan Parraz, were among those killed.
“I can’t understand what kind of monster would do this,” he said.
Pina said that Parraz and her baby lived with her father’s family in Goshen, and that her father’s uncle, her father’s cousin, and her grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed.
At least one of the elderly women was killed in her sleep, according to A.B.C.
Neighbors called 911 to report an active shooter because they heard a lot of gunshots.
DNA testing will be required to identify at least one of the men because of damage to his face from the weapon or weapons used, the sheriff said.
He said the family is in shock. “It comes in big waves,” she added.
Goshen is a semi-rural, mostly Latino community of about 5,000 residents 35 miles southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.
County Supervisor Eddie Valero, who represents the city, called the deaths “everyone’s worst nightmare.”
“These senseless acts of violence, especially with infants, children and young adults, have no place in our communities,” Valero said in a statement.
Tulare County, a small agricultural region with a population of less than half a million, has historically played an important role in the transnational drug trade, transporting drugs from Mexico to various markets in the United States.
The county, which is bisected by Highway 99 and has a limited police presence, acres of open land and a highly mobile farmworker population, has been a haven for drug dealers since at least the 1970s.
In recent years, the area has also become known for the production of methamphetamine and the cultivation of both legal and illegal marijuana.
Notable and violent figures in Mexico’s drug war, such as former Zetas cartel leader José María Guizar Valencia, have connections to Tulare County as he was born there.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at (559) 733-6218.