Tracy Press

 
A man was shot in the head and then lost control of his car, sheared off a fire hydrant and crashed into an apartment Saturday morning in Tracy.

Police officers closed all lanes of Grant Line Road while they investigated a shooting early Saturday morning. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

The victim was airlifted from El Pescadero Skate Park to Doctor’s Hospital in Modesto shortly after 1 a.m. Doctors finished stitching up the victim's wound around noon Saturday.

Tracy fire crews turn off the water to a hydrant sheared off in the crash this morning. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

The victim and his girlfriend — whom police said are both former Nortenos and whose names weren't released — were filling up their car with gas at a station across from Quik Stop, 651 W. Grant Line Road, Robinson said today, when two men pulled up in a newer blue Toyota Corolla.  

The gunman used a black handgun and hit the man behind his left ear, making a clean exit. 

The victim then hopped into his car and gunned it down Grant Line Road — driving westbound in an eastbound lane, according to his girlfriend, who survived the crash with enough composure to tell police what happened.

Tracy police officers look over wreckage and debris from the car after it hit the Driftwood Apartments this morning. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

“We’re not quite sure right now how the shooting came about,” Robinson said. "But we're thinking now that it might be a case of mistaken identity."

Employees at the 24-hour liquor store said today that because the shooting happened outside the store and that the clerk working the graveyard shift at the time saw nothing.

Investigators confer in front of the liquor store where the fight occurred this morning. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

The victim's girlfriend told police that she and her boyfriend recently moved to Tracy from Patterson to escape the gang life.

"Basically, they came here to start over," Robinson said. 

The girlfriend gave little description about the man who shot her boyfriend and fled the scene.

Police are still searching for the shooter, who they described as a Hispanic male between the ages of 17 and 20, with short, dark hair. They said he's about 5-foot-6 inches tall with a thin build. He was wearing a white tanktop-type jersey with an unknown number on the back, blue jeans and red/black Nike shoes. He also has a small tattoo on the left side of his neck.

“We’re still just piecing it together,” Robinson said, “(and) trying to figure out what led to this.”

The public is encouraged to call Tracy Crimestoppers with any information at 831-6847; the Tracy Police Department at 831-4552; or Detective Timothy Bauer at 321-4461. Callers may remain anonymous, and there may be a $1,000 reward for information.

• To reach a Tracy Press reporter or editor, call 835-3030 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (28)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

...
written by Thinker , June 28, 2008

Good job Tracy Press with the quick reporting and photos!!

...
written by Ziggy , June 28, 2008

Oh yes, we have no gang problems here. yeah right.

Tracy's new slogan, Welcome to Tracy: someplace special.
oh wait, that's Stocktons slogan.

What has this town become city council? It IS NOT SAFE here anymore.

...
written by fortheunderdog , June 28, 2008

Ditto to your fast response time and photos of the incident.

Ziggy..........this could happen in any city/town in California. It's not just indigenous to Tracy. Read this mornings Stockton Record...Local section, 2nd page. It happens in Stockton too. Also check out the San Joaquin Herald, SF Chronicle, and Oakland Tribune. You'll see the same stuff happening all over.

...
written by maybenotdumBcommenT , June 28, 2008

Right ftud, it happens in all cities. Ziggy, you must know this.

...
written by Annie Snyder , June 28, 2008

Yes, it could happen in any town. The are where it happened is not even the "hood" people were speaking of. That market tends to have people gathered in the parking lot a lot of the time. There are gangs everywhere. I don't think the city councel can deny that we have them, too. If they operate at 1:00 a.m., and stick to killing other gang members, then I should be ok. I am asleep by then. I do worry about my kids and their friends who like to be up at all hours of the night, but they are usually here, so they should be ok.
Tracy press, good job! Tracy police, excellent job! You are the ones cleaning up the mess after these young people. And our emergency response vehicles seem to be on the go pretty regularly, too. Good work!

...
written by smokie777 , June 28, 2008

yeah it happens elsewhere but do you and your immediate family live there? no probably not,you live here and that is the problem we are addressing.yes, however unfortunate or worse than our local problem other cities are, i dont live there and nor is my concern as great for their problem, iam seriously concerned about how totally out of control this problem is getting HERE not elsewhere! fights are one thing but blatently shooting someone like that is VERY scary.obviously people around here have gotten so desensitized by all the violence in the larger cities they fail to see the fact that all cities grew this way,peaceful in the beginning then an influx of new residents crime rises and then POW its out of control. too little too late.but here we still can be proactive and not let our city become another victim to this epidemic.also stockton has always had a gang problem and for many many years it really didnt overflow into tracy but now with the entire bay area moving here where moving here is a lot more peaceful than there they bring their baggage with them and its not good for this town. so ftud and mndc you should rethink how acceptable these incidences are,and do something to help bring about change in this town to make it safer instead of thinking,...well its worse over there...

...
written by Annie Snyder , June 28, 2008

Smokie, you make an excellent point. Not only have we pointed at other cities and said there are problems there, too. We have pointed at places like Pleasanton and said there are not as many problems there. So, what would the people in Pleasanton do differently than we do to avoid limit these problems. Smokie, I hate to be a b...., and I hate to bring up a previous letter.....BUT, the people in Pleasanton would call the police right away if there was a group of young people gathering in their neighborhood park or on their street. No waiting for a fight. No waiting for someone to be threatened or their kid to be jumped for an iPOD.(this happened to my son in our decent neighorhood) They would just pick up the phone and state that there were unfamiliar young people gathering in their neighborhood. I don't know very many people from Pleasanton, but the ones I have met don't want hoodlums hanging around.
So, when the average citizen is uncomfortable in their own neighborhood because there are unfamiliar people standing around, looking suspicious, they should call the police. Nobody should write letters or wave banners against these citizens. They are standing up for all of us.

...
written by bella , June 28, 2008

hope the police catch the people who did this shooting,sounds like, he and his girlfriend were trying to get out of the gang life.

good job of reporting tracy press.

...
written by maybenotdumBcommenT , June 28, 2008

smokie, I've lived here a long time and Tracy has always had gangs. We can't blame it on people moving here. Cities all over are falling on hard times. No money to hire more police. And besides the police can not be everywhere. That side is the Nortenos side BTW.

...
written by smokie777 , June 28, 2008

you areright but we as citizens need to be involved and use police as a suppliment instead of the only solution ie. neighborhood watch, the ever dissapearing block party, or just plain ole knowing your neighbor and when these youths start to congragate we do the same and just hang out out front of our houses talk amongst eachother so they see that we are there so when the police arrive they know we called and if they want to gather and not be respectful of our neighborhood we will always be watching and (you and i both know you can tell as a parent when kids are up to no good and have less than honorable intentions) if they misbehave they know to expect. just our presence after a while will be enough. anyways kids are lazy nowadays and would rather find somewhere else to go than run from police they will hopefully go away

...
written by amy , June 28, 2008

One danger of joining a gang is it is so hard to get out of it. Many get harmed when they tried. Sad fact of life that I see all the time.

Talk to your children about the dangers of joining a gang, their life will not be the same if they did, they will not be able to change their minds as easily because they will have too much information on the gang that they want to keep silent on.

Concerned
-amy

...
written by Ziggy , June 28, 2008

gangs and the spreading influence and violence. It's like a cancer here anymore. i've been here for quite sometime myself as well. now it is taking over the small bedroom town feeling with a bunch of violent non sence. you can not even walk down any street with out experiancing a thug driving by with a dumb looking ball cap on sideways. dare to look at the unintellegent wasted piece of human dna and you might get shot in the head. shoot back at the and the parents show up in the news saying how nice and loving their kid was. and how much the kid loved helping people. sheeewizz.

...
written by Concerned Parents , June 28, 2008

Don't service stations have cameras? I always read about them having the license plates of cars that drive away without paying for gas.

...
written by maybenotdumBcommenT , June 29, 2008

Ziggy, once again, Gangs are everywhere, in all towns and cities.

"dare to look at the unintelligent wasted piece of human dna and you might get shot in the head. shoot back at them and the parents show up in the news saying how nice and loving their kid was". I understand this as it is their intimidation tactics. The only thing you can do is move on. I got stared down in Stockton once and feared I'd get stabbed in the back. This was in a nice part of town. I tried not to act intimidated. It's the best we can do.

...
written by Annie Snyder , June 29, 2008

I agree, try not to look intimidated and walk away is the best tactic. I think the point Ziggy was trying to make is that when the thugs get hurt their parents try to make them out to be the innocent victim.

...
written by fortheunderdog , June 29, 2008

I think I see what Ziggy was saying, also what smokie777 added. It's not that other cities also have this problem, it's that this shooting happened in an area that maybe Ziggy lives close to and this type of incident has not occurred this closely before. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I live on the west side of Tracy Bl behind Save Mart. I'm sure if something of this calibre would have happened over this way I would probably say the same thing.

I know stores have to make a profit but I don't think a liquor store should be opened 24 hrs. They're just asking for trouble. I know I'm going to get flack for this.

...
written by bla , June 29, 2008

LOL, no flack, but what does liquor stores have to do with this? They were filling up their car.

...
written by fortheunderdog , June 29, 2008

I know, but there's absolutely no reason for a liquor store to be opened 24 hrs. I see no sense in adding to problems with drunk driving at all hours. Not to mention being drunk in public. Just my thoughts.

...
written by maybenotdumBcommenT , June 29, 2008

I live on the west side to and hear gun shots go off once in a while. I know where it is happening but can't do much about it but call police so they will see we need more police on each shift. Tracy is no longer a bedroom community. Yes we have to watch out for each other.

...
written by southtexas , June 29, 2008

i know this guy and the paper aint putting the correct facts down, in no way or form is this guy a former norteno gang member. the poor guy has never even done time. i am sure the two had words and pride got in the way and you know the out come.its to bad we cant put em up no more with out getting shot."those who live by the sword shall die by the sword".i lived out in the country near Tracy and we use to go to Tracy to buy groceries ,shop at benos , see the doctor and go watch movies and at that time the town was real innocent . i have been back recently and cant believe how the folks from the bay area have over powered that sweet town.

...
written by guapo , June 29, 2008

wow if you remember Benos you really are from Tracy. Did you also hit up the ODM afterwards?

...
written by Annie Snyder , June 30, 2008

Southtexas, how well do you know this guy? When did you see or speak to him last? It is true that the Press could be putting the wrong spin on this. The girlfriend was in distress at the time the police talked to her. She may have said they left Tracy to get away from the gang problem and that got turned into something else. We don't know. Papers have been known to twist the truth.
What we do know is that these two no longer live in town. They were here on a Friday night for what ever reason. They were in what the paper discribed as a red luxury car. IF the victim was the intended target then the shooter knew they were in town. They knew where they were and at what time. That would mean that someone ratted them out. The thing that does not make sense is that the girlfriend told police stuff a gang member would not. Even a former gang member would not give the details she supposedly did. Plus, if they were trying to change their lives, like the paper claims, then why would they be in Tracy in the middle of the night? The details of the story don't make sense. I know I am 48 years old and don't understand all this young people stuff, but I know some things. There is more to this story.

...
written by mythoughts , June 30, 2008

It's no secret Tracy and Paterson never got along! They hated each other. May be the victim is on some type of green light list with other gangs! That can the case, ya know?

I remember Beno's, OMD and the black cat on Central and third. Do ya remember B&E'S?, thats old school, right there!

...
written by shooterrob , June 30, 2008

Bummer! Trying to start over and this happends.
I just hope they catch the punk who shot this guy.

...
written by Ian Stewart , June 30, 2008

I saw freshly-painted Norteno graffiti on a pedestrian bridge in Emeryville on Saturday night, a block from the very upscale Bay Street shopping center. It's not really a question of us vs. them, nice vs. run-down, or Bay vs. Valley. It's a question of disenfranchisement from civil society, and what causes it. And such disenfranchisement increases as the economic prospects for the average Joe (or Jose) decrease.

...
written by fortheunderdog , June 30, 2008

I re-read the article and it said TPD said that they were both "former Norteno's". No such thing as a "former" in that gang. Sounds like someone ratted him out that he was back in town. It also could have been an initiation rite of passage for a newbie.

...
written by bla , June 30, 2008

You are correct ftu... There is no former, if you are hard core. This I know but, I do not need to go into detail. It would have made more sense if it read that they came to Tracy from another state to get out of gang life. I guess then, it wouldn't be the Nortenos...

...
written by amy , July 01, 2008

Talk to your children of the dangers of joining a gang,... talk to the police department with your child at your side and let the cop tell your child what he had seen, talk to the emergency room attendant about how the child arrived.... at the emergency room, sometimes trauma, talk to the teachers about explaining the dangers of joining a gang to the students in the class room at an early age, (during their impressionable years). Sometimes truth has to be harsh to send the message home in their head! Parents will see why they need to take more active role in their child's life. You don't want to end up talking to a mortician at the hospital?

The child needs to understand that the child cannot easily say, "I changed my mind, bye bye".... Nope, they will give them a "parting" gift, no pun intended!! Just too much information on them for them to say, "Good luck with your future"... it is more like this...."no way, we will......up your future and we will be stalking you!" Often the child's family is caught up in the cross fire, drive by shooting and so on.

Take the first step, talk to your child... TODAY!

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN FIRST, PLEASE.

Thank you.
-amy

If you love your child, you will INFORM your child before they get the WRONG INFORMATION from the gang during their impressionable years.

It is for this reason I am keeping my name anonymous.
Don't want them to find me since they don't know what I may have been told.

-amy