Detectives from the Santa Maria Police Department are investigating the homicide of an 18-year-old man who was found shot to death on the west side of the city on Dec. 4.
According to SMPD Sgt. Paul Van Meel, police received a call at 9:34 p.m. of shots fired in the 500 block of West Sonya, near the Siena Apartments. When police arrived, they discovered a man sitting inside of a vehicle who was shot multiple times. The victim was declared dead at the scene, Van Meel said.
The victim is identified as Brayan Arturo Mejia-Molina, who is a resident of Santa Maria, Van Meel said.
Although he is 18 years old, Mejia-Molina is the fourth teenager to die by gun violence in Santa Maria in 2015.
Ulises Garcia-Mendez, aged 17, was shot in the 1500 block of South Thornburg on Nov. 20 and later died at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Robert Luna, aged 17, was shot on Sept. 11 and later died from his injuries at Marian Regional Medical Center.
And 17-year-old Oscar Daniel Joaquin was shot and killed near Western Avenue and Barrett Street in Santa Maria on July 28.
Although Van Meel said there’s no information that would lead police to believe Mejia-Molina’s death to be gang-related, SMPD Chief Ralph Martin previously indicated that the other killings could be.
Street gangs are currently active in Santa Maria, although Martin refuses to “give them credit” by acknowledging their names, he has said.
In 2011, a drug and gang sweep conducted by federal and local law enforcement netted 11 gang members in Lompoc and Santa Maria, including several members of the L.A.-based Six Deuce Brims Bloods street gang and members of Santa Maria’s Northwest (an affiliate of the Mexican Mafia, a more over-arching organization based in prison) street gang, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Members of the Surenos street gang (also associated with the Mexican Mafia) have been known to operate in Santa Maria and other areas of the Central Coast, according to the FBI.
All four homicides are under investigation and remain unsolved. The SMPD has not publicly identified any suspects. The SMPD encourages anyone with information to call the Detective Bureau at 928-3781, Ext. 2297.
Mejia-Molina’s killing is Santa Maria’s 11th homicide of 2015. In 2014, the city counted three homicides, according to SMPD statistics.
This article appears in Dec 10-17, 2015.