Dozens of gang members arrested amid investigation into ‘cartel-style’ mass shooting in California
By Mallika Kallingal and Rebekah Riess, CNN
Dozens of gang members were arrested and illegal guns and drugs seized during a four-day operation in Central California, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
The arrests were part of an ongoing investigation into the “Goshen Massacre,” for a “cartel-style” shooting that left six people dead, including a young mother and her 10-month-old son, on January 16. Authorities say the shooting may have been the result of a conflict with members of the Sureños, a rival gang.
A total of 97 homes were searched, 26 suspects arrested and 18 arrest warrants served during the operation. Multiple firearms and some controlled substances were also seized, a release from the sheriff’s office said.
Additionally, nine search warrants in the Visalia and Goshen areas on known Norteño gang members turned up firearms, ammunition, methamphetamine and cocaine.
Police also busted an illegal firearms manufacturing operation, which consisted of gang members making and selling untraceable firearms to other gang members.
The sheriff’s office noted while warrants were being served in Tulare County, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation simultaneously searched 23 cells of known Norteño and Nuestra Familia gang members in multiple prisons throughout California.
Earlier this month, two suspects were taken into custody in connection with the Goshen shooting. The suspects, identified in charging documents as Angel Uriarte, 35, and Noah Beard, 25, are known members of the Norteño gang, the Tulare County sheriff’s office said at the time.
Their arrests were part of a multiagency effort called Operation Nightmare, which included searches of several California prisons and 24/7 surveillance of the suspects.
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