LOS ANGELES — Authorities in Central California arrested 26 people as part of a law enforcement response to the massacre of six family members in Goshen in January, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department announced.
The sweeping, multiagency takedown — dubbed "Operation Nightmare" — included searches of 97 homes in Tulare County along with the seizure of five guns, ammunition, 2 pounds of methamphetamine, an ounce of cocaine and an illegal firearm manufacturing operation, the Sheriff's Department said.
Authorities believe the killings were the result of years of beef and bad blood between two families associated with rival gangs in the area.
The most recent takedown, launched in the aftermath of the killings, came more than three weeks after the arrest of two men in connection with the massacre — Noah David Beard, 25, of Visalia and Angel "Nanu" Uriarte, 35, of Goshen — both Norteño gang members, according to the sheriff.
Beard and Uriarte are both charged with six counts of murder for the late-night bloodshed on Jan. 16, including the execution-style murder of Alissa Parraz, 16, and her 10-month-old baby as they tried to escape from the Goshen property. The other victims were Eladio Parraz Jr., 52; Marcos Parraz, 19; Jennifer Analla, 50, who was shot in her sleep, and Rosa Parraz, 72, who was shot in the head while on her knees beside her bed.
The seizures came as authorities served nine search warrants in the Goshen area on known members of the Norteño gang, according to the Sheriff's Department.
They discovered parts of untraceable ghost guns that gang members were allegedly assembling and also assault rifle parts.
At the same time authorities were executing the search warrants, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation searched 23 cells on members of the Norteño and Nuestra Familia gangs in numerous prisons throughout the state, the Sheriff's Department said.
Cellphones, weapons and "gang intelligence" were seized.
It was not clear if the takedown had any connection to the Goshen slayings beyond the fact that those targeted were allegedly members of the same gang as the accused killers.
The Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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