Salinas’ homicide rate outpacing San Jose
The homicide rate in Salinas now stands at 18, outpacing a large Bay Area community. San Jose, which is six times larger than Salinas, has seen 11 homicides in 2017.
The latest deaths happened on Monday night, when Emilio Barrera, 41, and Antonio Ortega, 28, were gunned down on Garner Avenue.
According to Salinas police, around 8:20 p.m. on Monday, officers received a Shotspotter notification of approximately five gunshots on the 13-hundred block of Garner Avenue. When police arrived, they found the two men suffering from multiple gunshots wounds. Despite efforts, both men died at the scene. Officers are investigating the shootings as gang-related.
“We ran and closed the doors until we heard sirens, then we checked outside and saw two people on the ground,” resident Guadalupe Ramirez said.
On Saturday night, a 23-year-old man was shot and killed on Paloma Avenue. Police said while the victim did not have a history of being involved in gangs, the homicide is being as gang-related.
No word how many of San Jose’s homicides were gang-related.
As for why its rate is lower than Salinas, Jose Arreola, the administrator of the city’s Community Safety Division said San Jose has had a safety plan in place since 1992. The city has also invested in the plan, spending millions every year.
“Their plan includes everything from street outreach to re-entry programs to community-based programs designed and focused on areas most violent in in their community and really increasing resources,” Arreola said.
The Community Safety Division was created six or seven years ago as a way to support and staff CASP (the Community Alliance for Safety and Peace). One of its programs is a Street Outreach Program, which had been on and off over the last few years. The focus is getting people who know the streets to keep kids off of them.
It was recently brought back, not as a grant-funded program, rather funded by the city.
“We’re not walking the streets as much as you might think,” Arreola said. “Right now they do a lot of home visits, a lot of trips with the youth and right now we’re focused on the 24 and under population. That may shift in the future, especially if this trend continues where we’re seeing a lot more adults being affected by violence.”
No word what is leading to the uptick of more adult victims.
Arreola believed the city and Monterey County was moving more toward more sustained investments to keep programs like this alive. Some success stories are as simple as staying alive.
“With some of our youth, it’s just that they’re still alive 3-4 months later because they were at that level of risk,” Arresola said. “We help kids get their driver’s license when necessary, if they’re working on citizenship.”
