An 18-year-old man who was stabbed in a Northwest Santa Maria neighborhood in the late afternoon hours of Sept. 10 died later that evening, according to Sgt. Rob Morris, a detective with the Santa Maria Police Department.
Police were called to the 900 block of West McElhaney at 4:52 p.m. where they found stabbing victim Luis Alberto Castaneira, a resident of Santa Maria.
He was transported to Marian Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Morris said.
The on-scene investigation lasted well into the evening. By 8 p.m., police still had a portion of the block taped off. Music could be heard emanating from nearby houses where some residents were outside enjoying a relatively calm Saturday night despite the violence that had occurred a short distance away.
Some of those people, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Sun that they were inside their houses when they heard tires screeching and a rapidly accelerating car leaving the area close to the time of the stabbing.
Castaneira’s family is still trying to make sense of his death. Twenty-one-year-old Rosio Garcia, the victim’s sister, told the Sun that Castaneira was almost home while walking along West McElhaney in the afternoon when she witnessed four men pull up in a gray, late-model Honda Civic and jump him.
Garcia said her brother appeared to be winning the fight when he was stabbed.
“At the end, they shanked him because my brother was winning,” she said.
Morris couldn’t confirm any of the details surrounding the incident, citing an active investigation.
Castaneira was born in Santa Maria and previously attended Pioneer Valley High School, Garcia said, although school officials wouldn’t confirm if he was a student. He worked as a farmworker with his father, Alberto. Garcia said her brother was upbeat.
“He was thinking good, he wanted to change and do things better,” Garcia said.
Garcia said her brother wasn’t involved in gangs, although she mentioned that she believes her brother’s death is gang-related. She said her brother enjoyed drawing, making rap songs, and reading the Bible.
Santa Maria has grappled with gang problems for years. As of 2014, at least 1,000 people (approximately 1 percent of the city’s population) were documented gang members, according to SMPD Chief Ralph Martin.
This past March, the SMPD led Operation Matador, an effort that included the FBI and led to the arrest of at least 15 members of the international gang known as MS-13 in several cities across the U.S.
It’s not clear if gangs were responsible for Castaneira’s death on Sept. 10. In the past, Martin has refused to identify the names of local gangs because he doesn’t want to give them any credit.
On a sidewalk corner near where Castaneira was stabbed, graffiti in scrawled in black marker read, “RIP Diamond West Park Killaz.”
The following Monday along West McElhaney was quiet. A young woman and nearby resident who identified herself only as Mitzi said she felt shaken by the incident. She recently moved to the neighborhood from another part of Santa Maria. Mitzi was inside her home at the time of the stabbing and didn’t hear any of the commotion outside.
“It’s crazy,” she told the Sun. “I’ve never experienced anything like that so close. It’s dangerous.”
Castaneira’s mother, who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico, wasn’t informed of her son’s death until Sunday morning, Garcia said.
Garcia said her brother’s body is being sent to Oaxaca for funeral arrangements. She told the Sun that she and her father will be going to Mexico for the funeral and that she isn’t sure if they’ll be returning.
“He was a happy person,” Garcia said. “He was strong and always wanted to do right.”
Garcia said that besides herself, Castaneira has five other siblings: four brothers and a sister.
His death marks the eighth homicide in Santa Maria in 2016, not including the July 20 shooting of Javier Gaona, who was killed by the SMPD during a standoff on the corner of South Broadway and Enos Drive.
As of Monday, Sept. 12, police haven’t identified a suspect in the Castaneira case but the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call the SMPD at 928-3781, Ext. 2297.
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2016.