Residents: Barstow Police's morning crime scene the result of a shooting within Mojave Manor
Barstow Police taped off a road within a remote cluster of houses Thursday morning after residents said a shooting occurred, though the department has not yet discussed the incident.
Local resident Debra Lucchesi took a photo of the scene around 11:30 a.m. and posted it on Facebook to ask if anyone knew what occurred. She told the Daily Press it shows the intersection of Woodham Avenue and Saint Lawrence Street within a residential area called Mojave Manor.
The photo shows that police tape had closed off both ends of Saint Lawrence, which is only a couple hundred feet long with a couple houses on each side.
A Barstow Police Crime Scene Investigations van can be seen parked just outside the tape, on Woodham, and a Barstow Police cruiser was parked within the tape, just a few feet in front of the van. One Barstow officer can be seen standing inside the taped-off area in the photo.
When the Daily Press arrived roughly 20 minutes past noon, the scene had been cleared entirely. It is unclear when police arrived or when the incident they were responding to occurred.
Police Chief Andrew Espinoza, who is also the department's spokesperson, did not respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday.
Mojave Manor branches off from West Main Street and sits between Diamond Pacific Tool to its west and Panorama Truck Repair & Towing Service — which holds impounded vehicles for Barstow Police, according to a sign at its gate — to its east.
Barstow resident Greg Wilhelm said he was listening to police scanners, something he often does to stay in the loop locally, and that "the call out for police was a shooting" Thursday morning. But because calls were so heavy at the time, he told the Daily Press that he did not hear the follow-up traffic on Barstow's scanner.
Another resident, who could not be reached for comment, posted in a local Facebook group that the shooting happened one street over from where she lives. The timing of her posts indicate that the incident occurred before 9 a.m.
"I was coming home and 2 police (cars) came flying by me" with Barstow Fire close behind, she said in the post. "I turn the corner and the cops are pulling guns out then an ambulance came. When I was leaving they had it all taped off and detectives."
Charlie McGee covers the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities for the Daily Press. He is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Residents: Barstow Police's morning crime scene the result of a shooting within Mojave Manor
