Shooting linked to smuggling ring, police say
A man shot multiple times Thursday evening at a Moreno Valley house where two others were killed may have been a victim of human smugglers’ increasing violence against immigrants, authorities said Friday.
The two shooting victims who died were found inside the house where police say undocumented immigrants were held while waiting for their families to pay for their release. The wounded man was able to escape and ran to a cell phone store nearly two miles away.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they are seeing a preference among smugglers for holding immigrants in the Inland region rather Los Angeles. The officials say smugglers in general are becoming more violent and are demanding more money once the immigrants have been brought across the border.
“We’ve seen more violent activity spurred by greed because there aren’t people paying the smuggling fees the way they used to,” said Debra Parker, an ICE acting deputy in charge of the Los Angeles investigations unit. “It’s awful. This is a very disturbing trend.”
Homicide detectives continued Friday to investigate at the house on Bay Avenue at Edgemont Street. The tan stucco home, in an older Moreno Valley neighborhood, had security bars on some windows and is surrounded by a brown wooden fence.
Detectives are unsure what led to the shooting. Neither the dead men nor the injured man have been identified by police. It isn’t known whether they were immigrants being held at the house or smugglers.
Source:
Shooting linked to smuggling ring, police say
pe.com
