Two shootings, no deaths, Santa Maria police say

Two people were shot in Santa Maria in a period of three days, according to the Santa Maria Police Department, sparking concerns that the city will return to the violence it faced a year ago.

In both incidents, the victims suffered non-life-threatening wounds, Lt. Marc Schneider with the police department told the Sun.

The first victim, a 23-year-old man, checked himself into Marian Regional Medical Center on the evening of Jan. 28 after getting shot in the upper torso while walking along the 1000 block of South Russell Street at 8:36 p.m., Schneider said.

Then, on the early morning of Jan. 31 at approximately 1 a.m., an 18-year-old man also checked himself into Marian. The man told officers that someone shot him in the calf while he was sitting in a car somewhere in the area of Western and Cook streets, said Schneider, who added that both victims were driven to the hospital in private vehicles.

“There’s no evidence that it was self-inflicted,” Schneider said.

Like the first shooting, Schneider added, the victim wasn’t specific about the location of where the crime occurred and pointed to more of a general area.

The police are investigating, but Schneider said the department has limited information because both victims aren’t talking much.

The shootings are an uneasy reminder of past violence in Santa Maria. Six people were killed in Santa Maria between December 2015 and January 2016, with at least one case involving minors.

Marcos Ramos, a 15-year-old Pioneer Valley High School student, was stabbed to death in the 1600 block of East Donovan on Jan. 26, 2016. Police arrested three teenagers in connection to the stabbing.

Recently, the city hired Eddie Galarza, who has experience with at-risk youth and works closely with the police department, to the new position of outreach coordinator. He told the Sun that he couldn’t talk about the details of the two recent shootings, but spoke against the violence.

“It’s horrible, it shouldn’t be happening,” Galarza said.

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