East Salinas business community reacts to deadly shooting

An armed robbery Friday night in Salinas ended with one employee dead and two seriously injured.

Hot Stop market is the popular neighborhood store, and is usually busy with weekend shoppers. But Saturday, customers arrived to find the doors chained shut.

“It’s a really awful feeling. It’s scary,” said Maricela Cruz, an Alisal School Board trustee and neighboring business owner.

When Cruz heard the news of the shooting, she rushed to the scene.

“Enough is enough. We’re trying to make a living, they’re trying to make a living. This is not fair,” said Cruz.

Investigators believe the masked suspects entered the store to take money from the cash register. But when the registers failed to open, police said one of the two suspects opened fire.

Lee Kim a friend of the family has known the store owners for over 30 years.

“They killed my friend. I’m not going to sleep you know. They are nice people you know.”

Friends and community members said they are shaken up that something so tragic could happen at their neighborhood store.

Authorities have not released the names of the victims. Both suspects were last seen running from the store on Williams Road after the incident.