As it continues to investigate a series of shootings that have killed two people and injured several others, the Woodland Police Department reported this week that its officers have confiscated two firearms “from individuals who had no legal reason to possess them.”
Sgt. Dallas Hyde said the weapons were discovered during separate traffic stops resulting from an increase in staffing and patrols “in an attempt to gain information related to the shootings and to prevent further violence.”
The first occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 20, when an officer investigating a vehicle in the area of B Street and Armfield Avenue discovered the occupant to be on searchable probation.
“During a search of the vehicle a Glock 9mm handgun was discovered in the trunk,” Hyde said. “The firearm was not registered to the subject who had control of it and he was also not old enough to possess it.”
Officers seized the handgun and arrested the vehicle occupant on suspicion of driving under the influence, with additional charges being considered, Hyde said.
Two days later, on Friday, Nov. 22, officers conducting a vehicle stop at an undisclosed location spotted a large-capacity ammunition magazine in the car’s back seat, leading to a vehicle search that revealed a loaded 9mm Intratec AB-10, a semiautomatic pistol, according to Hyde.
The driver was arrested and booked into the Yolo County Jail on several weapons violations as well as drug charges, stemming from suspected cocaine found during the search, said Hyde, who noted that the suspects’ names are not being released in order to preserve the integrity of the investigations.
Meanwhile, police continue to seek information about the fatal shootings — one on Oct. 21 at North and East streets that killed 16-year-old Alvarao Gamera of Esparto and injured two others, the second on Nov. 17 in the 100 block of Elm Street that killed Woodland resident Raymond Ortiz, 44.
Two other shootings, on Halloween night at North and West streets and Nov. 15 on Tide Court, left two others injured.
Anyone who can aid in the investigations is urged to call the Woodland Police Department’s crime tip line at 530-661-7851. Callers may remain anonymous.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene