California: Bakersfield Shooting Suspects Identified, Vigil Held For Victims Of The San Bernardino Terrorist Attack
In California, two Bakersfield shooting suspects have been identified by police after they were in an officer-involved shooting. Some workers also felt a connection to the San Bernardino terrorist attack, and on Monday night they held a vigil for the victims of the mass shootings.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, California police are investigating a series of Facebook posts that call for a mass shooting in Bakersfield, California.
Police have identified two of the three Bakersfield shooting suspects involved in an incident which took place on Friday, December 4. Authorities say Jeriel Fite, 31, and Reginald Moland, 30, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, firearms-related offenses, and gang enhancements in connection with a local shooting.
During the shooting incident, Bakersfield police found a man with multiple gunshot wounds inside a vehicle. The man was taken to the hospital and police began searching for a gray compact vehicle which contained the three suspects.
After police caught up with them, a car chase ensued but the shooting suspects eventually crashed their vehicle into a fence. Police officer Danny Melendez fired on the three suspects with his sidearm, striking Fite with a non-life threatening injury. Moland was eventually captured and taken into custody without any further confrontations.
The third suspect, who is not named in the reports, managed to evade police. The Bakersfield Police Department is still investigating the shooting and police pursuit, and anyone with information is asked to call 327-7111. According to Bakersfield Now, officer Melendez is also on routine paid administrative leave pending a review of the incident by the Critical Incident Review Board.
Vigil For the San Bernardino Shooting Victims
Even though Bakersfield is located about 160 miles away from San Bernardino, California, residents of Bakersfield feel a connection to the 14 victims killed in last week’s terrorist attack. Ten of the San Bernardino shooting victims were members of the Service Employees International Union, which also represents many of the workers at the Kern Regional Center in Bakersfield.
“This may be a little more distant connection, because we’re up here in Bakersfield and they’re down in San Bernardino,” explained Frank Meyer, the president of the Kern Regional Center’s board. “But there’s even the connection, we are human beings. We’re human beings, and we’re having lives taken for senseless reasons.”
About 50 people gathered around Kern Regional Center while holding candles and signs with the shooting victim’s name on them. Meyer also read aloud the names of all 14 victims.
“We need to have that opportunity to express grief, to encourage each other, to comfort each other. There is that part of our humanity that we need,” said Meyer.
Roxanne Sarabia does not work at the Kern Regional Center, but she also showed up to show support.
“I felt that I needed to be here,” she said.
Sarabia says that she is concerned by the seeming randomness of the San Bernardino terrorist attack since it seemed to come out of nowhere with no warning.
“I have many friends, many colleagues myself that work throughout the county, and this could happen to us. It could have been us,” she said.
Meyer also felt the same unease generated by the massing shooting. He admitted that the terrorist saddened him but he was not surprised when it happened.
“I wish I could say shock, but unfortunately this seems to be happening week after week,” he said.
According to the Dallas Morning News, there have been 353 massing shootings in America during 2015 alone. All in all, 462 people were killed and 1,312 were injured. A recent report also indicated that American authorities have arrested 51 members of ISIS in America in 2015, and many of the threats were out of California.
[Image via KBAK]
