Police sweep targets gangs

Nine people were in custody Tuesday night after being caught in a day-long crackdown on suspected gang activity linked to a recent spike in violent crimes.

Those crimes include assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, attempted murder and murder.

Police on Tuesday launched a targeted enforcement effort to bring those linked to the various crimes to justice. That effort will continue, police said.

Lt. Chris Dempsie said officers gathered at 4:30 a.m. and by the end of the day had served eight search warrants, arrested nine suspects and recovered four weapons — two handguns, a rifle and a shotgun.

“We recovered four guns today that we believe were involved in different acts of violence,” he said.

One of the weapons, Dempsie said, is believed to be the gun used in a Sunday night shooting in the area of Plano Street and Oak Avenue that sent the victim to Sierra View District Hospital with a gunshot would to the hand (see related report).

Dempsie said every interview room at the Police Department was being used Tuesday night to question the suspects. He said itÂ’s too soon to know how many of the recent violent crimes are specifically related to gang activity, although police suspect those links are there.

“The short answer is yes,” he said of the likelihood of gang involvement in connection with several of the recent incidents. “Some of these incidents are going to be related, and they are gang-related.”

Dempsie said adults and juveniles were taken into custody on Tuesday.

Dempsie said police do not yet know if any of the suspects detained Tuesday — or if any of the weapons that were found — are connected to a late-afternoon shooting on Aug, 27 in front of Sunshine Market on South Main Street that was witnessed by dozens of people. The shooting left Juan Manuel Castellanos-Alvarado, 35, of Porterville, dead.

“We’re definitely looking into that,” Dempsie said.

Dempsie said no injuries were reported in the aftermath of Tuesday’s gang sweep, which included uniformed officers, detectives and members of the department’s tactical team, assisted by officers from the Tulare County Probation Department. He said the targeted enforcement effort will continue this week and next week, “at least.”

“Every search leads to more information and another search, another address,” he said.

Contact Glen Faison at 784-5000, Ext. 1040, or gfaison@portervillerecorder.com.