It took less than half a minute. A silver Kia stopped in the front yard of a home in King City where a birthday party was being held. Three men then got out of the car and fired into the crowd.
Eleven people were injured and four of them died.
“It couldn't have been 20 seconds and it was all over,” Monterey County Police Chief James Hunt said. “It was meaningless.”
Now, King City is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects who opened fire on the party.
On Sunday, around 6 p.m., police officers responded to a report of a shooting at a home in the 200 block of North 2nd Street. Eleven people were injured by gunfire, and four people — three men and a woman — later died, according to Hunt.
The gunmen, who were wearing dark clothes and masks, fled after firing several shots at the concertgoers.
Seven adults were transported to hospitals in Monterey County. Police said two of them were in critical condition, while the others sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities identified the victims as King City residents Alicia Ramirez Aparicio, Francisco Aldape Perez, and Olivo Perez Pena, all 32, and 42-year-old Mario Guzman Mendoza.
“The murders and shootings that happened [Sunday] “The evening was a terrible tragedy for our entire community,” King City Mayor Mike LeBar said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened and share our deepest sympathies with the families and friends of those killed in this brutal act of violence.”
King City, located along the Salinas River, has a population of about 14,000, about 85% of whom are Latino, according to census data. The city is located about 130 miles south of San Francisco and 220 miles north of Los Angeles.
The city “is a vegetable hub that ships the best produce grown in the country,” according to the King City website.
Councilman Carlos Victoria condemned the shooting in an interview Monday, saying such a mass killing was unprecedented in the King City.
“This is a small rural community,” he said. “Most of our source of labor is agriculture. It is not acceptable. It is not welcome in our city.”
Hunt described King City as a close-knit farming community that had some gang problems. He said that ten years ago, some shooting incidents occurred.
“We still have shootings, we'll have a murder here and there, but nothing on this scale,” he said.
Hunt pointed to the $20,000 reward and said the investigation was a major undertaking for city police.
“For a large city, this would be a difficult task, but for a small police department, it is even more difficult,” he said.
In a news release, the department thanked the Monterey County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol, and the Greenfield, Soledad, Seaside, Pacific Grove and Salinas police departments for their assistance in the investigation.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact King City Police Sgt. Josh Partida at (831) 386-5988 or jpartida@kingcity.com, or call the WeTip Line at (800) 782-7463.
Times staff writer Summer Lin contributed to this report.
