3 days after social workers returned baby to mom, he died in Goshen massacre. Father is suing
Seven months after a teenage mother and her 10-month-old child were gunned down with four others in a Tulare County home, the child's father is suing the county for what he deems a failure by officials to protect his son.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed on behalf of Shayne Maupin, 18, seeks damages and a jury trial.
Maupin is the father of Nycholas Parraz, a 10-month-old who died in the arms of his mother, Alissa Parraz, 16, after they were shot during what authorities said was a targeted gang attack on Jan. 16 at a home in Goshen, a rural farming town in the Central Valley.
Also killed in the shooting, which came to be known as the Goshen massacre, were Alissa Parraz's uncle Eladio Parraz Jr., 52; her brother Marcos Parraz, 19; her grandmother Rosa Parraz, 72; and Jennifer Analla, 50, who was a girlfriend of one of the surviving family members. Two suspects, identified as Noah David Beard, 25, of Visalia and Angel "Nanu" Uriarte, 35, of Goshen, were arrested weeks later and charged in the six killings.
Read more: 'Please hurry, please': 911 call, surveillance video paint harrowing picture of Goshen massacre
Two members of the Parraz family were believed to belong to the Sureño gang, and both suspects were documented members of the rival Norteño gang. The family had documented feuds with one of the suspects dating back nearly a decade.
Maupin's lawsuit named four members of Tulare County Child Welfare Services for their role in placing Nycholas in the Goshen household.
Nycholas had been taken in by Child Welfare Services soon after his birth, as both of his parents were minors. The lawsuit alleges that, during the process of returning him to his mother's custody at the Goshen household, CWS employees did not take into consideration the risk of placing a child in a home where gang members lived and were at risk of gang violence.
Nycholas was officially returned to his mother's custody on Jan. 13, three days before the shooting, according to the complaint.
"They were fully aware this wasn't a safe place, and they should have never allowed the baby to live there," said David Rudorfer, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, in an interview with The Times.
The complaint details instances in which seven other infants died in the custody of Tulare County Child Welfare Services since 2020.
The lawsuit also named seven members of the Tulare County Sheriff's Office for what it says was their role in failing to protect Nycholas during a warrant check performed at the house two weeks before the shooting. The warrant found methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and firearms inside the home, but no action was taken to ensure the safety of Nycholas and Alissa as minors in a home with gang members.
"The number of red flags and missed opportunities by both Tulare County Child Welfare Services and the Sheriff's Office are too many to count," attorney Wyatt Vespermann said in a statement. "If these agencies had just done their jobs, this tragedy could have been prevented and Shayne would not have lost a lifetime of love, companionship, and affection from his beloved son and fiancée."
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 6.
"The County of Tulare has received the complaint and will give the matter careful consideration," said Israel Sotelo, a spokesperson for Tulare County.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
