Recent shootings in the Central Coast and state have community members on edge
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV)- Over the last few months, a number of shootings have taken place across the state, including here on the Central Coast. Some of them even deadly.
The deadly mass shooting in Downtown Sacramento capped off what has been a deadly last few weeks in California.
Just two weeks ago a drive-by shooting in Hollister left two people dead. Reports of multiple other shootings in Salinas has left people worried and vigilant.
“The thing that makes me worried is the fact that you can’t be out in the street for so long or just doing your normal routines that you do,” said Berenice Cabarello of Salinas. “It makes me very concerned.”
But some are also feeling angry.
“I’m tired of hearing about thoughts and prayers,” said Paula Brandon, a longtime resident of Prunedale. “Thoughts and prayers don’t bring those little kids back and bring back the rest of their lives.”
Data from the California Department of Justice breaks down the number of violent crimes from 2011 to 2020 in Monterey County.
Numbers from the DOJ show Monterey County reported 1480 violent crimes in 2020.
Out of that number, 14 of those cases were homicide. San Benito County numbers show 164 violent crimes in 2020, three of which were homicide. DOJ numbers show that Santa Cruz County reported 970 violent crimes, 12 were homicide.
Click here to see the data from the California Department of Justice.
The Salinas Police Department told KION its Violent Suppression Task Force is on the streets working to take guns out of the hands of criminals.
“Just this last weekend, we arrested three people that were in possession of illegal firearms,” said Sgt. Gerry Magana with police department’s Violent Suppression Task Force.
Police said a lot of the guns they've picked up are ghost guns.
“We are out on the streets doing intelligence based policing and also doing proactive police work to take these guns off the streets from violent criminals,” said Magana.
KION also checked in with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. The agency told us from 2018 to 2020, the Sheriff's Office saw 725 violent crimes. In 2021, the Sheriff’s Office said it saw 349 violent crimes.
The Sheriff's Office also said when incidents like in Sacramento happen, they become more vigilant.
“We do daily briefings,” said Chief Deputy John Thornburg with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office. “Our deputy sheriffs know and we share as much information with them so they know what's going on in neighboring in communities and in our community.”
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office told KION violent crime has gone down over the last three years.
Here’s what the breakdown for violent crime looked like from 2019 – 2021:
In 2019 our Violent Crime rate was 2.25 and the state as a whole was 4.44
In 2020 our Violent Crime rate was 2.09 with the state 4.34
In 2021 our Violent Crime rate was 1.69 with the state at 4.37
But the Sheriff's Office said these numbers are only for the unincorporated parts of Santa Cruz County.
Both the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Salinas Police Department said if people anything suspicious, to report it to their local law enforcement..
