A 10-month-old baby and his 16-year-old mother have been identified among the six victims shot dead in a “cartel-style execution” in a home in Goshen, California.
Alissa Parraz and her infant son Nycholas Nolan Parraz were found in a ditch outside the home in the early hours of Monday morning. Both victims had been shot in the head, the young baby found cradled in his mother’s arms.
Police said that it appeared the mother had been trying to flee when she and her son were killed.
Parraz’s grandfather Samuel Pina told the Associated Press that he “can’t wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this”, as he confirmed that Parraz’s uncle, her dad’s cousin, and her grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed.
Mr Pina said Parraz and her baby were living with her father’s side of the family in Goshen at the time of the attack.
In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Parraz’s mother Shyla Pina spoke out about the pain of losing her daughter and grandson who she was yet to meet.
“My heart is broken I am lost for words my beautiful daughter Alissa Parraz was only 16 teen and handsome grandson that I never got to meet in person was only 10 months old my kids family I hurt for u I don’t wish this one any one,” she wrote.
“Alissa mommy loves u and my grandson so much I miss u more then u know, I wish u were here in my hands.”
Investigators believe that two gunmen entered the address in Harvest Road, Goshen, and fired multiple rounds in the early hours of Monday morning.
The Tulore County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at a press conference that officers were called to the home just after 3.30am local time to reports of multiple shots fired.
“Actually the report was that an active shooter was in the area because of the number of shots that were being fired,” he said.
Officers arrived on the scene to two victims dead on the street, and a third victim in the doorway.
Three more victims were then discovered inside the home, one of whom was still alive and rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
In totaln, six people were killed while another two people who were inside the home survived after hiding from the gunmen, officials said.
Investigators are searching for at least two experienced kilers who “targeted” the family.
“We also believe this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family,” said the sheriff.
The attack is believed to be gang-related, he added, coming just one week after police executed a search warrant for drugs at the family home.
The search resulted in one arrest and the seizure of guns, marijuana and methamphetamine.
“I think it’s specifically connected to the cartel. The level of violence … this was not your run-of-the-mill, low-end gang member,” said the sheriff, adding that the killers “who what they are doing”.
“If [they] are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing ... [and] they are comfortable with what they are doing,” he told The Los Angeles Times.
Goshen is a semi-rural community of about 3,000 residents 35 miles southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.
