Authorities in Central California have arrested 26 people as part of a police response to the massacre of six family members in Goshen in January, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department announced.
The sweeping multi-agency takedown — dubbed “Operation Nightmare” — included searches of 97 homes in Tulare County, along with the seizure of five guns, ammunition, two pounds of methamphetamine, an ounce of cocaine and an illegal firearms manufacturing operation, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Authorities believe the murders were the result of years of feuding and bad blood between two families linked to rival gangs in the area.
The most recent removal, launched in the wake of the murders, came more than three weeks after the arrest of two men in connection with the massacre – Noah David Beard, 25, of Visalia, and Angel “Nanu” Uriarte, 35, of Goshen – both Norteño gang members, the sheriff said.
Beard and Uriarte are both charged with six counts of murder for the nightly carnage on January 16, including the execution-like murder of Alissa Parraz, 16, and her 10-month-old baby as they attempted to escape the Goshen property. The other victims were Eladio Parraz Jr., 52; Marcos Parraz, 19; Jennifer Analla, 50, who was shot in her sleep, and Rosa Parraz, 72, who was shot in the head while kneeling by her bed.
The seizures came after authorities issued nine search warrants in the Goshen area against known members of the Norteño gang, the sheriff’s department said.
They discovered parts of untraceable ghost weapons that gang members were allegedly assembling, as well as parts of assault rifles.
At the same time as authorities were executing search warrants, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was searching 23 cells of members of the Norteño and Nuestra Familia gangs in numerous state prisons, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Cell phones, weapons and “gang information” were seized.
It was not clear if the removal had any connection to the Goshen murders, aside from the fact that the targets were reportedly members of the same gang as the accused killers.
The Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
