Yuba City man killed; 2 arrested

A 26-year-old Yuba City man was gunned down early Saturday at his Del Monte Avenue home. His two roommates were arrested.

Jedidiah Jose Salazar and Maria Christina Velasco were booked into the Sutter County Jail on suspicion of being accessories to murder after the fact, Police Sgt. Brian Bernardis said.

"At the moment, they have not been arrested as murder suspect, nor have they been excluded as suspects," Bernardis said.

Officers did not release the victim's name.

"The likelihood of gang involvement is probably very high," Bernardis noted.

Salazar, 24, and Velasco, 22, were still in custody Saturday afternoon on $100,000 bail each.

Police responded to 157 Del Monte Avenue around 12:30 a.m. after receiving reports of shots fired in the area.

Investigators followed a blood trail near the home to the front door, but nobody answered the door. Officers went through an open garage door and discovered the victim on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

Salazar and Velasco were arrested a short time later. Officers did not say exactly what role they believe they played in the death.

Police were called to the same house several times in the hours leading up to the shooting, authorities said.

Multiple neighbors said a large party was taking place at the home which boiled over into a fight on the street involving around 20 people.

Roberto Gonzalez, an area resident, heard the shooting, but couldn't say exactly how many shots were fired.

"It sounded like someone was hitting a metal roof with a like a sledgehammer," said Gonzalez said.

According to two neighbors, who asked not to be identified, violence was sparked when two unidentified people, a man and a woman, damaged a car parked outside the party. A group of about 20 people came outside the home and the man was knocked to the ground near the intersection of Del Monte and Moore avenues.

Loud shouting and swearing continued, but most of the group returned to the home. Multiple shots were fired a short time later.

Another area resident, who also asked to withhold her name, reported hearing five gunshots.

"It was a pow, pow, pow, five times. I thought it was just a TV (show) at first," the 80-year-old neighbor said. "There had been a lot of cursing and yelling coming from up (Monroe Avenue) before that."

Violence shocks neighbors

Roberto Gonzalez, a 42-year-old area resident, said violence in the neighborhood is unusual.

"We want to get out of here now," Gonzalez said. "We've never had anything like that this close to us."

Gonzalez said the area has been getting worse recently.

"We heard some other gunshots like a month or so ago, but nobody was shot, the cops never came," Gonzalez said.

Neighbors said the three residents at 157 Del Monte moved to the neighborhood less than a year ago. Several people said gang activity increased in the area and shouting matches between that home and another became common. Multiple area residents suspected some one in the house of selling narcotics.

"There's a lot of traffic through that house, now," another neighbor said. "Lots and lots of parties there."

Several fences in the neighborhood were tagged heavily with gang-related graffiti.

Gonzalez said Saturday's violence was shocking.

"I've seen them partying and talking, a lot of people there, but I've never seem them have any big problems or anything," he said.

Prior arrests for 1 suspect

Jedidiah Jose Salazar was convicted in 2008 in connection with a gang-related drive-by shooting on Franklin Avenue, authorities said.

Disposition on the case was not available Saturday, but Yuba City police confirmed Salazar was convicted in the case.

Multiple shots were fired into a home Aug. 31, 2008 in the 1400 block of Franklin Avenue. No one was hurt.

Yuba City police stopped a vehicle a short time later on Hayne Avenue and arrested Salazar and the vehicle's driver, according to Appeal-Democrat archives.

Salazar was also arrested in March 2008 on suspicion of illegal firearm possession. The outcome of that case was not available.

CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at @ADcrimebeat.