Crime & Safety

UPDATE: SWAT Raids in Decoto Linked to 2008 Murder

Police arrested four gang members in connection to the 2008 fatal shooting of Juan Carlos Gomez at Kennedy Park.

Authorities made four arrests in Union City Friday morning in connection to the 2008 murder of a Hayward resident, police said.

The arrests were the result of an intense investigation following the fatal shooting of Juan Carlos Gomez, a 28-year-old Hayward man who was gunned down Feb. 29, 2008 at Kennedy Park, said Lt. Ben Horner of the Union City Police Department.

The names of suspects and locations have not yet been released due to the complexity of the investigation, Horner said.

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However, witnesses reported seeing SWAT units, along with unmarked vehicles and Fremont and Union City police squad cars, at homes being raided as early as 7:30 a.m.

At around 11:15 a.m., witnesses said a SWAT unit stormed a home on the 33000 block of Ninth Street. By 11:45 a.m., the officers were gone.

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Residents at the Ninth Street home said they were not served with a warrant and not told what the search was regarding and that no arrests were made at their residence.

Witnesses also reported a SWAT unit on Fourth Street around 11 a.m. and in other areas of Decoto as early as 7:30 a.m.

Several residents said they heard what they thought were gunshots near a residence on Sixth and E Street. Horner said those were not gunshots but were the sounds of diversion devices used to distract dogs.

Police say the 2008 slaying is believed to be gang-related.

According to Horner, police responded to reports of shots fired at Kennedy Park at 6:11 p.m. Feb. 29, 2008. Responding officers located a vehicle with Gomez and another adult male inside suffering from life-threatening gunshots wounds.

Gomez was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The shooting occurred during a robbery in which the suspects were overheard using Norteno gang slogans, Horner said.

Union City Patch will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.


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