Two men are dead after an overnight crime spree involving three separate shootings and two separate armed robberies.
It ended with SWAT team members and bomb squad technicians searching a residence in southeast Bakersfield where they found and arrested two suspects.
The shootings and robberies took place in five different locations early Wednesday morning, all just a few blocks a part. Police say witnesses led them to some apartments on McNew Court where they arrested two gang members involved in the crimes.
Just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, Bakersfield police officers went to Baker and Lake Streets after, they say, two men robbed a man in his car at gunpoint then shot him in the arm. The victim crashed his SUV into a light pole as he was trying to get away. His injuries were minor, and he is expected to be ok.
That shooting happened three blocks away from Inyo Street, where police found another gunshot victim, 36-year-old Raul Alonso Morales. He died at this scene.
Police responded to three shootings and two armed robberies in this crime spree, all in close proximity.
The first robbery happened at the AM/PM off Union Avenue around 2:30 a.m. A female taxi driver was robbed at gunpoint.
People who live nearby were shocked.
"My kids are grown but I got grandkids here that go to Longfellow and Noble. Knowing something like that happened in our neighborhood is kind of scary, you know," said resident Howard Pollard.
A few minutes after that robbery, police say a man walking on Baker Street was also robbed at gunpoint near Varsity Fuel.
"After 11:00, we don't know. Even I asked him last night, the guy, but they don't even know what happened," said Ik Jun Cho, Owner of Fiesta Liquor.
About ten minutes after the robberies, police found a man who was shot near Williams and Pacific Streets. He later died at the hospital.
The crime spree finally ended with police evacuating apartments on McNew Court where they found and arrested two suspects.
"The information provided by victims and witnesses led officers to the location on McNew Street where a vehicle was later confirmed as the vehicle involved in the incident, was located," said Bakersfield Police Detective Uriel Pacheco.
The two suspects, 23-year-old Eric Castilleja and 18-year-old Luis Gonzalez, were arrested.
Police say they are both gang members
