Cops and Courts

The suspect in a gang-related shooting Monday afternoon was arrested inside a clothing store on Main Street and police believe they found the gun he used hidden inside store merchandise, Sgt. Terry Traub reported in a press release late Monday.

The victim, an 18-year-old Watsonville man, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Watsonville Community Hospital for treatment, according to police. His condition was not available late Monday, though Traub said he is “recovering.”

The suspect, Luis Alberto Vasquez, 18, of Las Lomas, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, participating in a street gang and using a firearm, police reported.

Details on how the shooting occurred were not clear, but Traub said it was gang-motivated.

Police reported officers were sent to the Ross Outlet Store at 1455 Main St. just before 4 p.m. because there were “Cholos” inside the store trying to fight a man, later identified as Vasquez, who was hiding in the building.

Around the same time, officers responding to the store pulled over a vehicle that was speeding away from Montabello Drive and Clifford Avenue — a neighborhood northwest of the store — and found the gunshot victim inside the car. The shooting had apparently taken place at Montabello Drive and Montabello Court, police reported. Officers were sent to that location to secure the crime scene.

Back at Ross, police learned the man being chased through the store was the suspect in the shooting. Vasquez was detained, but did not have a gun with him. Also, the men trying to fight him left the store, according to police.

However, people who had witnessed the shooting identified Vasquez as the shooter, Traub reported.

Officers — with the help of Ross employees, management and security — cleared the store of customers, had a police dog search the building to ensure no one else was hiding inside, then brought in Watsonville police cadets to search for a gun. Cadets teamed with store employees to search aisle-by-aisle and found the gun hidden in merchandise, police reported. Traub did not say what product the gun had been concealed in.

Police cadets were then sent to the shooting scene to search for shell casings. The cadets searched side-by-side and found a casing “in the area which Vasquez fired the firearm,” Traub reported. He did not elaborate on where the shooting occurred or where the victim was when he was struck by the bullet.

Police reported finding one shell casing. They did not say how many times the victim was shot or what caliber gun was used.

Traub praised Ross employees and the police cadets for their assistance in the investigation.