Santa Barbara County – With the start of a new school year, one might think that adolescents walking the streets of local communities should properly be either on their way to or from school, or perhaps headed to the local air-conditioned library where they might avoid the current afternoon high temperatures and enjoy the peace and quiet so necessary to complete daily homework assignments.
One might indeed think that…if one lived in a utopian world where there were no undisciplined and out-of-control teenagers drawn to the hazards of involvement with criminal street gangs. That utopia is apparently an unknown ideal to the six young men involved in what Santa Maria Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eizio Lara described for the media as “a gang-related stabbing” that reportedly took place just after dark on the night of September 9th on a local neighborhood street.
When officers responded to a 911 Emergency call at that location, they discovered “a victim who had suffered multiple stab wounds,” who had also been assaulted les than a week prior by unknown assailants. At that point, the SMPD Gang Suppression Team brought all their investigative resources to bear and determined that Wilfredo Hernandez and Omar Raymundo, both 18-year old residents of Santa Maria, were responsible for both attacks.
Along with Hernandez and Raymundo, detectives located four additional juvenile males who had participated in the violence. All six suspects were contacted by Gang Suppression Team detectives and placed under arrest, charged with attempted murder with gang enhancements.
The juveniles were booked into Santa Barbara County Juvenile Hall, while Hernandez and Raymundo—having reached the age of legal majority—were booked into Santa Barbara County Jail.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
KSBY: Police arrest 2 men, 4 juveniles in stabbing
Santa Maria Times: Six arrested in gang-related stabbing
KCOY: Six suspected gang members arrested
