Crime & Safety

Raid Part of Larger, Multi-Agency Operation Linked to 2010 Murders on SF Peninsula

Tenants who lived in home used to live in South San Francisco

The Petaluma home raided in the early morning hours on Thursday was one of 12 locations around the Bay Area where federal agents served warrants, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The warrants are in connection to a 2010 gang shooting in South San Francisco that left three young men dead and part of an ongoing multi-agency investigation that began 18 months ago.

Nineteen people were arrested in the raid, including Petaluma resident Victor Flores, in connection with the 2010 homicide.

Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Meanwhile neighbors on the 1300 block of McNeil Avenue said the family who lived in the modest home behind the Best Western Inn included a husband, wife and two young children.

But Sadie Vega-Martinez, who lives across the street from the home, said as many as nine people lived in the home and had moved there two to three months ago.

Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Vega-Martinez was at home when she heard shots ring out at 4:10am and says some of the bullets fired by her neighbors at the federal agents struck her front door and car.

“We could have easily been hit,” she said.

She said federal agents issued commands in English and Spanish for the residents to come out, then used chainsaws to enter the home.

The information could not be independently verified.

Joseph Sullivan, another neighbor, said he often saw many cars coming and going from the home, but described the street as generally quiet.

“This is a family neighborhood, but further back (toward the bridge to the westside), things get a lot worse,” Sullivan said. “We’ve always suspected drug activity there.”


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