LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman stood over a 16-year-old mother holding her 10-month-old baby and pumped bullets into their heads in a brazen attack in a central California farming community that left six dead in a home attached to drugs and weapons, a sheriff said Tuesday.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said the teenager was fleeing the violence early Monday when the killers trapped her outside her home in Goshen, a central California community of about 3,000 in the San Joaquin Valley, and shot the young mother and her child. “assassination style.”
The other four victims ranged in age from 19 to 72, including a grandmother who was shot in her sleep. Their autopsies are expected to be completed later this week.
Authorities said they were looking for two suspects and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrests.
“None of this was accidental,” Boudreaux said during a news conference Tuesday. “It was deliberate, intentional and cruel.”
Boudreaux went back on his earlier comments to reporters that the attack was likely a cartel hit, and said investigators are also looking into whether it was gang violence.
“I’m not eliminating that possibility,” the sheriff said. “These individuals were clearly shot in the head, and they were also shot in places where the shooter would know a quick death would occur … This also resembles high-level gang affiliation and the style of execution they commit.”
Law enforcement is familiar with the home, the sheriff said, citing gang activity there that has “routinely occurred in the past” without providing any details. He added that not all those shot were drug dealers or gang members – and said that among the victims believed to be innocent are the teenager, her grandmother and, of course, the baby.
The sheriff’s department on Tuesday identified the victims as: Rosa Parraz, 72; Eladio Parraz, Jr., 52; Jennifer Analla, 49; Marcos Parraz, 19; Alyssa Parraz, 16; and Nycholas Parraz, 10 months.
Boudreaux said “there was no reason” for the shooters to kill the young mother and her child.
“I know for a fact that this 10-month-old baby was relying on her mother’s comfort. There was no reason for them to shoot that baby, but they did,” he said.
Samuel Pina said Alissa was his granddaughter and the baby, Nycholas, was his great-grandson.
“I can’t wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this,” he told The Associated Press on Monday.
Pina said Parraz and her baby lived with her father’s side of the family in Goshen, and that her father’s uncle, father’s cousin, grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed.
“It comes in waves,” he said.
Authorities received a call at 3:38 a.m. Monday about multiple shots being fired — so many that it initially appeared to be an active shooter situation — at the residence in the town of Goshen, about 170 miles (273.59 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles.
It was later determined that the caller was someone hiding on the property. Deputies arrived seven minutes later and found two bodies outside the home on the street, and a third body on the doorstep, Boudreaux said.
Deputies found several victims inside the home, including the grandmother. Down the street they spotted the teenage mother and her baby. An investigation revealed she had tried to run away before the shooter caught up with her and stood over her and fired several shots into her skull, Boudreaux said.
“It’s very clear that this family was a target,” he said.
Three people survived and will be interviewed by the authorities. They include a man who was hiding in the home when the murders occurred.
“He was in a state of fear that all he could do was hold the door hoping he wasn’t the next victim,” Boudreaux said.
On Jan. 3, a search warrant at the home led to the arrest of Eladio Parraz Jr., a convicted felon who was killed in the Monday shooting — although Boudreaux said Parraz Jr. was not the “original intended target” and refused to elaborate . Parraz Jr., 52, had an extensive criminal record, including reckless driving to avoid arrest and possession of firearms and drugs, according to jail records.
The search warrant stemmed from a parole check where investigators found shell casings on the ground, the sheriff said. The residents refused to let officers into the home, Boudreaux said.
They returned with a search warrant and arrested Parraz Jr. after discovering ammunition, a rifle, a shotgun and methamphetamine in the home, court records show. He was released on bail four days later.
Rural California is no stranger to drug-related violence. In 2020, seven people were fatally shot in a small, rural town in Riverside County where the property had been used for an illegal marijuana grow – a common practice in this area.
The following year, a man accidentally shot himself while working on his family’s illegal marijuana farm in Butte County’s Forbestown. The father and two brothers were accused of moving his body to prevent investigators from discovering the growth site.
Associated Press writer Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz contributed to this report. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and video producer Javier Arciga in San Diego contributed to this report.