The shootings of two teenagers in less than a week in Eastlake are not believed to be related, and the victims were involved in “illegal activity” beforehand, Chula Vista police said.
The police department issued a statement Thursday in response to residents’ concerns regarding the Sunset View Park shootings, one of which was fatal.
On the evening of March 6, gunfire injured a 15-year-old boy. Five days later, a 17-year-old boy died at the park.
Neither victim has been publicly identified, though police said the boys were not Chula Vista residents.
Police released the statement one day after Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas-Salas issued her own response to concerns over local law enforcement resources.
According to police, the 15-year-old victim arranged for a family member to take him shopping. He actually, though, had “negotiated an illegal transaction” with another person and intended to meet with him.
The boy then claimed he needed to use the bathroom and the family member dropped him off at the park, police said, citing statements from the victim.
Once in the bathroom, the person he’d agreed to meet with and an unknown accomplice “displayed handguns, assaulted the victim and attempted to rob him.” The boy was shot during the exchange and the suspects, both described as 16 to 17 years old, fled the park.
The shooting of the older teen also involved a possible “illegal transaction,” Chula Vista police said.
The motive for that shooting, which was reported at 7:21 p.m. March 11, “appears to be related to that transaction,” according to police. Investigators said the victim was seen arguing with “individuals possibly known to him over this activity.”
One of four suspects pulled out a handgun and shot the victim, police said, then fled in a dark colored four-door Honda or Acura sedan. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
“We share the community’s concerns that two crimes of this nature should occur within one week at the same public park anywhere in Chula Vista, especially where that park does not have a history of significant criminal activity,” the department’s statement read.
“The Chula Vista Police Department is appalled at the nature of these crimes, unsettled by their occurrence in our safe community, and shares in the collective grief at the senseless loss of life.”
Police asked anyone with information regarding the shootings to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
