Sheriff: Murder Victim was Jesse Lopez

Saturday night, Jesse Lopez and his friend, both 14-year-olds from Watsonville, met some new friends in town. Together, they drove up Hecker Pass to hang out.

But instead of “socializing in a more remote location,” as Sheriff’s Office Lt. Fred Plageman put it, the teens were gunned down by strangers.

when the new acquaintances sped away. His friend, who also was shot, ran into the woods to hide and call 911.

The gunfire came from a second vehicle in the highway turnout. The people in that car didn't know Jesse or his friend, but were connected to the new acquaintances who had driven the teens up the mountain, according to Plageman. Detectives didn't say who the intended target was.

Good Samaritans stopped to help Jesse, who had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was lying on the side of the well-traveled highway.

“Passersby noticed activity at the turnout at the side of the road and they turned around ... and came back to render aid," Plageman said, praising the effort. "It’s just a testament to people who would involve themselves in an incident … they’re really truly good people.”

Jesse Lopez later died at Watsonville Community Hospital.

. Plageman said “there’s evidence to indicate the players involved in this investigations are involved with gangs.”

On Facebook, friends and relatives of Jesse described the Watsonville High freshman as “a happy, goofy kid” who was respectful of his elders.

 Six of the eight murders were gang-related. No arrests have been made in any of the killings. 

On Monday, deep tire tracks where the vehicle peeled out of the dirt turnout were the only evidence of the killing, besides remnants of road flares and police tape.

An arrest is expected soon, according to Sgt. Ian Patrick of the Sheriff's Office Investigations Unit. However, some community members doubt an arrest will be made. 

"They always say that, but they never do," said one local man who saw the ambulance leaving the scene of the shooting. He declined to give his name.

Plageman said detectives are pounding the pavement to solve the case. The acquaintances who drove Jesse and his friend to the highway turnout have been spoken to. Also, five young men arrested at a home in Santa Cruz on Sunday morning for gang participation, fighting and weapons charges were interviewed.

Police looked at the surveillance footage of Orchard Park Market, down the road from the crime scene, according to the owner.

Other locals, who wished to remain anonymous, were talking about the murder while standing in line at Santa Rosa Market on East Lake Avenue in Watsonville. One man said he heard about the killing and the boy's identity at Saint Patrick's Church in Watsonville.

Maria Felix, owner of Santa Rosa Market, said she was deeply saddened to hear the news from her customers.

"I have been here for 16 years, and I see many, many school kids," Felix said in Spanish. "From middle school, from the high school, I have kids who come for lunch every day, and they lose their time walking all the way here, eating lunch, and walking back. And for me, I have nothing to say because they are good kids. Good kids. I have never had problems with them. But what is missing is education."

Felix blames a lack of education and after school programs for the gang activity. She also said that many kids are not afraid to go to jail, because they are treated better there than at home.

"There they have meals, they have a dentist, they have a doctor," said Felix in Spanish.

"My sadness comes because all of the people have a brain, all of the people have the spirit to make something of themselves, but their dreams end when they can't find how to realize them," Felix said.