CNN
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At least six people, including a mother and her six-month-old baby, are dead after a “morning massacre” on Monday that authorities in Goshen, California, said may be related to cartel activity.
Deputies who responded to the gunfire after 3:30 a.m. Monday found six victims, including two who were on the street and one who was in the doorway of the home where the gunshot went off, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters at the scene.
The woman, who was 17, and the child were shot in the head, he said. Among the other people who were killed was a man who was taken to the hospital but later died.
The person who reported the shooting “assumed that the shooter was in the area due to the number of shots being heard,” the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said in a new release.
“We have families that have escorted us from the scene, we have survivors,” said Boudreaux, He said investigators did not know how he survived what he said was a “horrific murder.”
The attack does not appear to be random but may be gang-related, the sheriff’s office said, noting that it comes just over a week after deputies served a search warrant on the home.
Although rival gangs often carry out violence in the area, investigators believe Monday’s mass killings were linked to drug trafficking, violence and sophistication.
While investigators can’t confirm that the shooters were from the cartel, the sheriff thinks it looks like a “cartel-style killing,” Tulare County sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Schwarm told CNN on Monday.
Drug cartels have resorted to extreme violence, including deploying military units against suspected enemies and law enforcement officials who have interfered with their drug-trafficking operations.
Investigators are looking for at least two suspects, the sheriff’s office said.
