Special Report: A look at Salinas’ homicide rate

A disturbing trend in Monterey County; teens are being killed at a faster rate than anywhere else in the state, according to a recent study on youth homicide.

This year, Salinas is seeing its biggest spike in homicides yet and breaking a record set in 2009.

Police say shootings happen all over Salinas but the majority of homicides are mostly confined to the east side. While some of these homicides are linked to gangs, the victims are often teens in the wrong place at the wrong time.

East Salinas maybe rich in culture; authentic Mexican food and street vendors on every corner. It’s an area filled with workers who harvest so much of what we eat, but it’s also known for its violence.

“There’s a certain level of fear,” said Mark Cisneros who’s a teacher and the head coach for the Alisal High Varsity Soccer team.

Cisneros said growing up on the east side is tough on his students and players, “this can be such a violent place sometimes and they have to deal with that. We all have to deal with that.”

In the 12 years he’s been teaching, Cisneros said he loses a student to gang violence almost every single year,” I remember one year I lost five. That was tough.”

In September, his former student 17-year-old Bryan Hernandez was one of three victims shot and killed on Elkington Avenue.

“He’s a good example of a kid that was trying to point himself in the right direction,” said Cisneros. “He was trying to get that push. He wanted to do good things but he just didn’t have the support system at home and that’s where it fell apart.”

Just this week, another shooting left 16 -year-old Everett Alvarez High School student Juan angel Perez dead. Police say he was gunned down while riding his bike home near Seiber and Orchard avenue

“They’re kids. They’re 16, 17-year-old kids and it shouldn’t be happening,” said Cisneros.

But not only is it happening, the Violence Policy Center found in its 2014 study that Monterey County had the highest rate of youth homicides. It also stated that in California, shootings are the second leading cause of death for Hispanics ages 10 to 24.

Here in Salinas, 11 homicides this year fall under that category and only seem to support that statistic.

“I’ve lost count. I stopped counting my first year,” said Detective Michael Rivera.

After 15 years at the Salinas Police Department, Detective Rivera has seen it all, “there have been years where we have low homicide rates and then there’s been years where we have exceptionally high homicide rates.”

And this year, the City of Salinas hit a record with 34 homicides mostly in east Salinas and that’s with a department with only 133 officers, well below normal staffing levels.

“It has been difficult for us to investigate,” said Rivera.

Back in July, Chief Kelly McMillin restructured the department and pulled the plug on the gang task force and all special assignments to put officers back on street patrol. Since then, 22 of this year’s homicides happened.

“There’s so many factors that contribute to violence that it’s hard to find one simple fix and one easy solution for the problem,” explained Rivera.

Police said it’s also hard to find people willing to talk about what they may have seen or heard, often because of their legal status.

“I think sometimes for them it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” said Rivera.”And if people don’t feel safe, there’s no trust.”

But here is one place that is sparking community conversations.

“That’s the main thing with Facebook, is getting people to finally start talking to one and other,” said Dave Clark, who runs several neighborhood watch groups in Salinas. “Now they’re actually starting to posts things like ‘we just saw something, we just saw someone.”

Clark said crime has changed since his days as a sheriff deputy and believes Facebook could help turn things around, “I think they could be stopping crime.”

“They now know who to call, when to call, why to call. They’re finally aware that they can make a difference.”

It’s a lesson Coach Cisneros is trying to share at an early age as he hopes his kids will choose the right path, “these kids need to taste success. They need to get a taste of what success is in some form.”

The City of Salinas does have a program called PIER, Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement and Reentry. It’s all about trying to keep kids busy and out of trouble.