Police say fight at party may have sparked north Merced shooting that injured 3 people

Merced police have released more details in a shooting that injured three people earlier this month.

Police said although a motive for the shooting remains unclear, it is believed to be gang-related.

Officers responded at about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 15 to a call of about 20 shots fired in the 3500 block of San Moritz Avenue. A short time later three shooting victims arrived at Mercy Medical Center Merced with injuries, according to police.

Merced Police Detective-Sgt. Kalvin Haygood said the victims included two adult males and one juvenile. One of the men was taken to a trauma center with critical injures and is said to be in stable condition.

Haygood said when officers arrived on scene, they located blood and shell casings in the front yard area of a residence that extended to the roadway. Three people were also located inside the residence and refused to exit.

Merced police detectives and SWAT responded to the scene and served a search warrant at the home. During the search detectives located evidence of a shooting inside the residence and no weapons were recovered, according to Haygood.

Police said a neighboring residence was struck by gunfire and no other injuries were reported.

Authorities said it appears there were many people at the home, possibly for a party, when some sort of physical altercation took place that did not involve the victims. Haygood said it is unclear who was involved in the altercation and what led to the shooting.

“We know that the people who were shot were not involved in the altercation,” Haygood said.

Haygood said it remains unclear why the victims were shot and who did the shooting.

Everyone except for the three people who remained at the residence had left by the time police arrived, authorities said.

Police said two different caliber shell casings were located at the scene and it appears there was more than one shooter. It is unknown if the shooters were involved in the altercation, according to Haygood.

As far as the investigation into the shooting, Haygood said the victims have been uncooperative with detectives and no arrests have been made.

“We don’t have much to go on if the victims don’t want to cooperate—there’s really not much investigating we can do,” said Haygood.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Detective. Edwin Arias at 209-385-7826 or by email at ariase@cityofmerfced.org.

According to Haygood, callers can remain anonymous.