A Northern California multi-agency investigation into gang violence between rival Sikh teams related to 11 shootings has resulted in 17 arrests, authorities mentioned Monday throughout a information convention.
Regulation enforcement officers mentioned they related two gangs to an Aug. 27, 2022, mass capturing the place 5 males have been shot exterior a Stockton Sikh temple and a March 26 capturing the place two males have been shot close to a Sacramento County Sikh temple.
All through the investigation, often called Operation Damaged Sword, 41 firearms have been confiscated from suspects chargeable for violent crimes and shootings in Sutter, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo and Merced counties, in accordance with authorities. Two suspects have been described as “fugitives from India who’re needed on quite a few murders out of India.”
The violence started with fistfights and sword assaults at a 2018 Sikh parade in Yuba Metropolis and escalated to a capturing at a September 2021 wedding ceremony in Yuba Metropolis, in accordance with Sutter County Dist. Atty. Jennifer Dupré. Since then, the gangs carried out 10 further shootings, with 11 males being shot, all of whom have been “members of the syndicate,” she mentioned.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta mentioned there may be extra to be carried out to stop gun violence.
“There might be extra takedowns. There might be extra weapons faraway from harmful people,” he mentioned, including that individuals ought to be capable of dwell “with out the worry of gang violence, mass shootings and homicide hanging over their heads.”
Initially, Dupré mentioned, the suspects concerned have been one giant group earlier than “one faction broke off, and since then they’ve been rivals attempting to outdo one another.”
The investigation was already underway by the point of the second capturing final month in Winery, the place Dupré mentioned “it may have been a massacre” had authorities not arrested seven armed males who deliberate to shoot their rivals throughout a parade. A capturing nonetheless occurred afterward and two males have been wounded.
