92503 Activity : Press Enterprise counts Riverside Homicides at 12 so far in 2008

(taken from Press Enterprise.com)

Riverside police are looking for leads in four unsolved fatal shootings in the past month. The most recent two came this past weekend with the deaths of a 16-year-old boy in Casa Blanca and a 41-year-old man in Arlanza.

The deaths bring Riverside to 12 homicides already this year, matching its 2007 total. The city typically has 10 to 12 homicides each year.

Sgt. Derwin Hudson said detectives have no suspects and are asking for the public's help in the homicides.

Two of the deaths occurred in the city's Casa Blanca neighborhood. Hudson said they do not appear to be connected. Gang investigators are assisting but so far nothing is pointing in that direction, he said.

About 5 a.m. Saturday, 16-year-old Johnny Macias was shot at the intersection of Diamond and Bunker streets after a confrontation with several men, Hudson said.

Friends took Macias to Riverside Community Hospital where he died more than 10 hours later, according to the Riverside County coroner's office.

On Sunday, two open beer cans and a rose in an empty Hennessy bottle made a small memorial. A San Miguel Arcangel candle burned on top of a black bandana. His friends paid their respects at the site but would not talk about Macias.

Three weeks earlier, a 20-year-old man was shot on nearby Evans Street. Police have not released the man's name. The man was found in front of a residence in the 7300 block of Evans Street at 11:23 p.m. and died shortly afterward at Riverside Community Hospital, police said.

The other two shooting deaths occurred on the western end of Riverside.

On Aug. 28, Sean Mychal Soria, 18, was shot in a gas station parking lot at La Sierra and Indiana avenues about 12:30 a.m., police said. The bullets shattered the glass doors the gas station market.

On Saturday night, police responded to reports of shots fired in Bryant Park on Philbin Avenue in Riverside, police said. Manuel Augustin Flores, 41, was found wounded several times in the upper torso.

Hudson said the detectives again have no suspect information or details of what happened before the shooting. "There was no one else around, he was alone," Hudson said

Damn homie,

Two of the above were smoked real close to home.

Now all my people know I've been real low key this year, but I still got people active. I aint know the murder rate was what it was this year.

Like I've said before, not to many locals frequent my site, but this is pretty dissapointing news.

Especially because I know one of those particular deaths is going to directly effect some of my people that are still active. I wish I could do something to change the outcome of things, but things are sometimes beyond your control, and you sadly have to accept it as reality.

I know some of these beefs date so far back that it's beyond anybody's control but someone needs to step to the plate and make a change in the hood for once.

It's a sad situation.