Press Release

Saturday, December 31, 2022

PRESS RELEASE: Illegal Sideshow Turns into Homicide Investigation

On Friday, December 30, 2022, at approximately 11:52 p.m., Turlock Police Officers responded to the intersection of South Avenue and South Orange Street for a call of an illegal sideshow in front of Wakefield Elementary School. Deputies with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the location to assist with traffic enforcement and dispersal attempts. While officers were on scene, unknown participants of the sideshow started pointing lasers at officers.

As deputies attempted to make traffic enforcement stops on participating vehicles, they initiated vehicle pursuits with at least two vehicles. The vehicle pursuits resulted in at least one traffic collision. Officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to handle those traffic collision investigations.

At approximately 1:06 a.m., Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputies, operating helicopter “Air 101,” reported that the involved vehicles were reassembling at the intersection of Fulkerth Road and Tegner Road. As officers respond to this location they heard sounds of gunshots coming from the area. Responding officers teamed up and headed toward the crowd where the gunshots originated. Vehicles in the immediate area began to flee as officers located two gunshot victims and detained several individuals.

Officers immediately performed life saving measures on an unresponsive gunshot victim, however, the man was declared deceased on-scene. The second man, who also suffered a gunshot wound, had non-life threatening injuries and was transported to a local area hospital for treatment. The deceased man has been identified as a twenty year-old Tracy resident. His identity is not being released at this time.
 
When officers initially arrived at the shooting scene, one driver ignored orders to stop, and fled the scene. This vehicle was later spotted by Air 101, which resulted in another attempted traffic enforcement stop. That vehicle fled from deputies and was ultimately involved in a traffic collision on Taylor Road.

As these incidents unfolded, a man came into a local area hospital with a gunshot wound, however, claimed it occurred elsewhere. Detectives are working to determine if this incident is related to Turlock homicide.

Turlock Police Detectives and Investigators with the Major Accident Investigations Team (M.A.I.T.) responded to the scene to interview multiple witnesses and process the scene. They remained on-scene for over eight hours.

Although the investigation is in its early stages, it is believed the shooting stemmed from a prior conflict at the sideshow between at least two individuals. There is no indication that this was a random act of violence.

Detective Brandon Bertram said, “Detectives are relentlessly working this investigation to determine why this crime occurred. These incidents are a huge drain on our local resources. I would like to thank the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol for their help and response to this incident. We are asking anyone who was a witness to contact us. We are also asking anyone with videos of the illegal sideshow or shooting to contact Detective Raul Garcia at (209) 664-7314.”

The Turlock Police Department would like to advise the public that we take these illegal sideshow incidents very seriously, as they are very dangerous to our residents and other motorists. The Turlock Police Department continues to dedicate resources to combat these types of illegal sideshow activities in cooperation with our allied agency partners.

The Turlock Police Department asks that anyone with information about this investigation to call Detective Brandon Bertram at (209) 664-7323. You can also contact the Turlock Police Department’s Tip Line at (209) 668-5550 extension 6780 or email at tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us.

The Turlock Police Department is an active participant in the Crime Stoppers Program. Callers can leave an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers at (209) 521-4636 and may be eligible for a cash reward.

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