'Dangerous Gang Members' Arrested For Union City Murders: Police

UNION CITY, CA — Two "dangerous gang members" have been arrested for the shooting deaths of two Union City boys, according to Union City Police Chief Jared Rinetti.

The suspects are 18-year-old Jason Cornejo of Castro Valley and a 17-year-old boy from Hayward, whose name has been withheld because of his age. The shooting victims are 11-year-old Kevin Hernandez and 14-year-old Sean Withington. They were gunned down at about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 23 while they were inside a van in the parking lot of Searles Elementary School.

Withington was pronounced dead at the scene and Hernandez was pronounced dead while in route to a local hospital, according to police.

During the investigation, Union City police worked with several other law enforcement agencies and officers served search warrants at six different East Bay locations — four in unincorporated
Alameda County, one in Hayward and one in Richmond, police said.

During the searches, officers seized:

• Approx. 40 lbs. of Marijuana – Street Value $32,000
• Approx. 8 lbs. of Methamphetamine – Street Value $28,000
• Over $10,000 in Cash
• 2 Handguns
• 3 Assault Weapons
• Several High Capacity Magazines and Ammunition
• Other Pieces of Evidence Related to the Double Murder

"My heart goes out to the families of the victims. These were children who were murdered, and even though we cannot change the past or reverse this tragedy, I am relieved that we were able to control the outcome of this investigation with the arrest and charging of these dangerous gang members," Rinetti said in the news release.

— Patch editor Bea Karnes and Bay City News contributed to this story

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