King City Police tries new tactic to solve homicides

UPDATE 6/7/2017 5:45 p.m.:

There have been more than two dozen unsolved homicides in King City over the past 18 years. Police are taking a new approach to hopefully get to the bottom of some of these cases.

This week, more than 5,000 flyers were mailed to households and businesses, featuring the city’s five most recent unsolved homicides.

– March 2017, Hipolito Cruz-Carreno was gunned down in front of his wife and daughters
– January 2017, James DeCarli was gunned down after arriving at his friend’s house
– July 2016, Austin Giudici was gunned down at his home during a party
– June 2016, Martin Heredia was gunned down at his home
– October 2015, George Chavez was gunned down riding his bike

“We want to keep the face of the victims alive, so people don’t forget them,” Capt. Allen Rowe said. “And as the flyer states, we’re looking for some heroes. And perhaps by sending this out, someone will read that and it will pull at their heartstrings and their conscious if they have information and help them to decide to come forward and be the hero we need.”

Longtime resident Kay Paz knew several of the victims featured on the flyer. She said over the years, she has heard gunshots and seen helicopters flying overhead. She, like other residents, say retaliation is what keeps people quite.

“You know somebody saw something,” Paz said. “You know somebody heard something. But I think people are afraid. They’re afraid to say anything because they’re afraid of reprisals.”

While police understand the residents’ concerns, they want to crack down on the violent crime.

“We’ve had a number of unsolved homicides here and many dozens of shootings each year which result in significant injuries to the victims, paralysis, partial blindness, etc.” Rowe said. “At some point, this community is going to have to stand up and try and take back their town against the monsters who are perpetrating these crimes on so many people and families.”

People can anonymously report tips at 831-386-5980 or WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME (782-7463).

ORIGINAL POST:

This week nearly 5,000 households and businesses received flyers asking people to be a hero.

The flyers feature five pictures of King City’s most recent homicides, including the shooting death of a young father in front of his two daughters.

Police said people tend to be careful to speak out because of retaliation but they hope showing the pictures will pull at people’s heart strings and they’ll want to speak out of what they know.

Residents told KION they’ve received the flyers and they know people have information and they want them to speak out to make the community safer.

People with information can remain anonymous by calling 831-386-5980.

KION’s Mariana Hicks will have the story at 5 p.m.