Conner Jay

Tragic scenes

EMTs try to save the life of a 16-year-old Frank Sanchez was fatally shot to the head Wednesday night along Capitol Street in Salinas. Sanchez’s death was the first incident in a spike of recent violence in Salinas, including five shooting and three other murders this week.
   
A police officer exits the crime scene under the red light of an apartment complex between Rider Avenue and Alamo Way where Everett Alvarez High School freshman Erik Lopez was shot and killed Thursday night in Salinas.
  
An ambulance transports the victim of a shooting Friday night along Dennis Street in Salinas. According to Sgt. David Crabill, the incident is gang related and possibly connected to the other shootings through the week.
     
  
A man identified as 35-year-old Juan Palo Lopez Ruiz of Watsonville is pronounced dead at the scene of a shooting Sunday night along the 8800 block of Vista de Tierra Circle in Castroville. Another man was seriously injured during the shooting.
  
A 17-year-old boy sits down and holds his right thigh where he was shot while hanging out in Ferris Triangle Park in Jersey City Thursday around 4:45 P.M. Another 17-year-old boy was shot twice in the legs and a 15-year-old girl was shot in the abdomen; all the teenagers suffered non-life threatening injuries. A local business owner, who declined to give their name in fear of retaliation from the shooters, said they heard two different guns fire at least seven times.
   
Flora Cristobal holds a picture of her 15-year-old son Rodolfo Cristobal during a peace rally Sunday in Salinas. Rodolfo was shot and killed in a gang related shooting last Oct. 14 on Archer Street in Salinas
     
  
As friends and family file out of the West Lawn Funeral Home, Linda Smith spends a final moment with her son. Spc. Joseph Kenny died in an undisclosed noncombat incident during Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq.
   
Salinas firefighters battle a house fire along the 200 block of San Marcos Drive on Sunday in Salinas. In all, 31 firefighters responded to scene with eight fire engines, three chief officers, a truck company and breathing support personnel.
   
Overcome with emotion, Gladys Rodriguez’s begins to cry while describing her statue of the Virgin Mary that was stolen from its alter outside her Union City home. Members of Rodriguez’s community often used her alter as a place to pray and leave flowers and candles to the Virgin Mary, standing as a symbol of hope for some. The statue came as a gift from her son, who used the figure as an inspirational symbol to help battle his addiction to drugs.
     
  
A sheriff participating in the SAFE Sweep parole check arrests a parolee for violating the terms of his parole Wednesday in Salinas. The SAFE Sweep went throughout Monterey County to check the parole of registered sex offenders, searching their homes and vehicles. This parolee was found with a crowbar and a knife that were classified as weapons because he had a prior conviction for using a crowbar to sexually assault a woman.
  
Jersey City police officers detain a distressed Irene Williams outside the scene of a shooting where three teenagers were shot at Triangle Park in Jersey City. Williams would not calm down and was trying to walk onto an active crime scene because she was afraid her niece was one of the victims. Police on the scene sent Williams to Jersey City Medical Center where she was later released.
   
Mayoral candidate Louis Manzo yells back at Mayor Jerremiah Healy, after the two accused one another of miscuing crime statistics in Jersey City. Manzo's reaction was evoked after Healy began a part of speech with, "Mr. Manzo, I don't lie," during a community meeting about crime at Christ the King Catholic Church/
     
  
A deputy with the sheriff's department searches a house along Esperanza Circle after 35-year-old Juan Palo Lopez Ruiz of Watsonville was shot and killed and another man seriously injured during an incident Sunday night at Vista de Tierra Circle in Castroville.
   
Jose Cruz stands by the coffin of his 6-year-old son, Azahel Cruz, before a funeral mass Friday at St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas. Azahel Cruz was shot and killed by a stray bullet at his home along Laurel Drive last Tuesday.
  
Hugo Guerrero, center, wipes away a tear during the memorial service of his brother, Jose Perez, Tuesday evening at the Struve and Laporte Funeral Home in Salinas. Perez, who played football for Salinas High, was on his way to campus to practice with his team when he was shot and killed last Thursday.
     
  
Rafael Rubio, 21, of Salinas watches the Bankers Casino dealer Mitchell Limon take away his money after losing a hand on the casino's Black Jack table Thursday in Salinas. Salinas Police Chief Louis Fetherolf told the City Council in April there had been "no issues of public safety" since the casino got its interim card room permit in August 2008. The chief even said he would put "friendly pressure" on the state to speed up its background check, a prerequisite for a permanent permit.
   
Emilio Diaz Jr., 8, of Soledad holds his 4-year-old sister, Kiria, as they watch wildfires burn through the hills in east Soledad from their home along the 300 block of East Street. According to CAL FIRE Cpt. James Dellamonica, the Gloria Fire in Soledad was caused by agricultural fireworks, a type of sparkler used to scare birds and ground squirrels.
  
Salinas police officers investigate the scene where two teens were shot, one them suffering fatal injuries, Wednesday night along the 100 block of Prado Street in Salinas.
     
  
A woman suspected by police of being a prostitute walks along East Alisal Street. The Salinas Department was conducting a prostitution sting around town and observed the woman soliciting sex.