One person was killed and a teenager was seriously injured in a shooting that occurred in Santa Maria during the evening of the city’s Fourth of July celebration, according to the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD).
Sgt. Mike McGehee of the SMPD said the shooting happened in the 400 block of N. Oakley Ave., in the northwest part of the city, where they found two male victims suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The shootings occurred amid a busy Fourth of July holiday at a time when the police patrol presence was at least double what it normally is. According to SMPD Sgt. Russ Mengel, more than 30 officers were patrolling Santa Maria.
Both victims were transported to a nearby hospital, where the teenager underwent surgery. Police confirmed to the Sun that the adult victim had died.
McGehee said no arrests have been made, and detectives are actively investigating the case.
This is Santa Maria’s seventh homicide of 2016. In the month of January alone, a total of six people were either shot or stabbed to death.
Last year Santa Maria experienced 13 homicides. Most of them are unsolved.
In general, violent crime in California increased 10 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year, according to a new report released on July 1 by the Office of the State Attorney General. Homicides increased 9.7 percent, the report stated.
The report also noted that the increase comes after a two-year decline in violent crime. And despite the increase, according to the report, overall rates still remain lower than in 2010.
This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2016.