Officer Was On Patrol In Area Where Shooting Occurred
SALINAS—The Salinas Police Department have made an arrest in a early morning shooting that sent a 65-year-old women to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries to her hip and arm. Within six hours of the incident, officers arrested 22-year-old Salinas resident Alejandro Meneses for his part in the shooting.
On Saturday, Salinas Police responded to a report of a shooting near the area of Sieber and Orchard Streets. While responding, police learned that there was indeed a victim of the shooting.
Once on scene, police located a 65-year-old female victim suffering from two gun shot wounds to the hip and arm, but both injuries were considered non-life threatening. The victim stated that she was standing in her apartment when she heard the gunshots.
She was not the intended victim; witnesses stated that it appeared that a blue van drove by, and the passenger opened fire on a group of men who were standing outside the apartment complex, and near the victim’s apartment.
A few hours later, an observant police officer was on patrol in the area where the shooting occurred when she noticed a van that fit the description of the one that was involved in the shooting. While she was examining it, the owner contacted her and told her that his son had been driving it earlier that morning. The officer found a handgun similar to the one used in the shooting inside the van.
Another officer was able to make contact with 22-year-old Alejandro Meneses of Salinas, the son of the van’s owner, and developed enough evidence to link him to the shooting. Meneses was arrested and charged with attempted murder, and with associating with a criminal street gang with weapons charges. He was transported and booked into the Monterey County Jail.
