www.montereycountynow.com AUGUST 6-12 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 tion. The gang members formed what they themselves called the “Murder Squad.” Over three years, the Murder Squad orchestrated multiple shootings, killing 11 people and wounding 17 others between January 2015 and November 2018. Many of the homicide victims had no known gang affiliation and were murdered in cold blood for no other reason than they were vulnerable and met the suspects’ criteria for prey. The suspects coordinated and carried out missions to hunt and kill rival Sureño gang members or individuals they believed to be Sureños. When they could not find actual Sureños, they targeted Latino men, including migrant agricultural workers. Members of the Murder Squad believed these victims were people no one would miss: men without immediate family nearby or strong community ties, whose deaths would generate little more than a brief news story before being forgotten. In one of the homicides, the victim was killed in the pre-dawn early morning hours just off the sidewalk in the front yard of a home in a poor, eastside neighborhood. The killers pulled up in a car, got out and emptied their weapons into the victim at close range. When detectives conducted a door-todoor canvass of the neighborhood, no one knew the victim or where he lived. Over the next few days, the detectives repeatedly canvassed the neighborhood. Eventually, one of the residents admitted the victim rented a room behind their home. Detectives had spoken to this person and others the night of the murder, but no one wanted to get involved; they acted as if they did not know the victim. This was precisely why the suspects chose victims from within the migrant community. Migrants often lived under false names in the U.S. and their next of kin were challenging for police to track down. Some migrant families were in remote and undeveloped locations in Mexico, Guatemala or El Salvador. Even if they were far from home, their killers were wrong—loved ones cared about each of these human beings. The Salinas Detective Bureau investigation revealed the Murder Squad carefully planned, coordinated and executed missions to hunt and kill victims in Salinas’ poorer neighborhoods. The investigation revealed the Murder Squad used multiple vehicles to carry out their executions. One car carried the designated shooters, another served as a spotter watching for police or witnesses, and a third searched for potential victims. They communicated by cell phone while hunting. Members of the Murder Squad selected victims based on characteristics they associated with rival Sureños: Latino men, agricultural laborers, individuals wearing blue clothing, or people found within particular neighborhoods. The investigation revealed members of the crew knew the victims they killed were not gang members. They convinced themselves their victims were Sureños and killed them anyway. Once a target was identified and the approach coordinated, the shooters fired until their weapons were empty. They frequently exited their vehicles, ran toward their victims, and continued shooting at close range. The suspects celebrated their murders and encouraged a culture where the more “bodies” accumulated by a Murder Squad member, the higher status conferred on that member. Investigators learned the shooters gained added status (or respect) by being ruthless in their execution. One suspect later told detectives that they would drink and party until intoxicated before going out to “hunt” simply for the thrill of it. They also understood confronting an actual Sureño carried risks, as a rival gang member might be armed. However, if they attacked a migrant David Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, announced the arrests of six members of the so-called Norteño “Murder Squad” at the Salinas Police Department during a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. “The indictment alleges a pattern of horrific violence,” Anderson said. “This violence destroys lives. This violence holds our community hostage.” This chart shows the trendline from 2010-2025 of murders in the city of Salinas each year. The number peaked at 40 in 2015, garnering the title “the youth murder capital of California” in 2016, when there were 36 homicides. In 2025, there were seven, an 83-percent decrease from the peak a decade earlier. The Operation Redrum indictments focused on homicides from 2015 to 2018. Murders in Salinas over a 15-year timeline MURDERS 40 30 20 10 0 YEARS 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 PARKER SEIBOLD DATA PROVIDED BY SALINAS POLICE DEPARTMENT
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