POLICE in California are hunting for a gang of serial killers they believe to be responsible for four unsolved murders. The deadly executions took place between August 2019 and January 2020 and started with the murder of middle school teacher Nancy Magaña. Magaña, 25, was shot by two men while sitting in her pickup-truck […]
POLICE in California are hunting for a gang of serial killers they believe to be responsible for four unsolved murders.
The deadly executions took place between August 2019 and January 2020 and started with the murder of middle school teacher Nancy Magaña.
Magaña, 25, was shot by two men while sitting in her pickup-truck outside the Delmann Heights Recreation Center with her boyfriend and five-year-old son on August 17.
New surveillance footage released by police shows the suspects’ light-colored sedan drive near Magaña’s truck, which was stopped in the parking lot of a local park.
In a press conference, Sgt. Al Tello said that two men walked up to the driver’s window and shot her unprovoked.
He said: “No words were exchanged between Magaña and [the people in] that vehicle.”
“She was just sitting there with her boyfriend.”
Just a month later Detrell Page, 21, was shot in the back of the head by another motorist as he drove down Cajon Boulevard near the recreation center on September 14.
Detrell survived in critical condition – but tragically, his two-year-old daughter Dekorro was killed in the resulting car crash.
More shootings followed in the New Year.
Lemon Hamilton, 24, was shot dead near the corner of Meridian Avenue and Spruce Street on January 19.
A short time later Jesus Valencia, 20, of Rialto, arrived at hospital with a bullet wound from the same shooting.
San Bernardino residents Israel De La Torre, 34, and Daniel Melendrez, 33, were then shot dead two days later near Hanford Street and Grand Avenue.
The shootings appear to be connected as they all happened west of the 215 Freeway, a “high gang area” according to Sgt. Al Tello.
Some of the victims, such as Nancy Magaña, were randomly chosen while others may have been known to the gangs, San Bernardino police have said.
The attacks recall the infamous killings of the Zodiac Killer, who claimed to have murdered 37 victims in Northern California in the late-1960s and early 70s.
Only five murders have ever been conclusively attributed to the Zodiac, although he claimed several more in spooky encrypted messages sent to newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle.
The serial killer targeted people sitting in their cars including couples.
Law enforcement continue to track the Zodiac Killer, who has to this day still never been identified.
