Jose Cruz and Maria Alcantar’s son, Azahel Cruz, 6, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March. The killing was the 31st in the last 15 months in Salinas, population 145,000, a city the size of Pasadena with eight times as many violent deaths, every one of them gang-related. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Monterey County Gang Task Force meet in a parking lot before heading out to search homes. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Monterey County Gang Task Force talk with suspected gang members in Soledad while on patrol. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Guillermo Barajas, 26, winces as he struggles to get comfortable in handcuffs. He was taken into custody after allegedly running from a home carrying bags of methamphetamine. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A tattooed suspect is handcuffed on a Salinas street while being questioned. Azahel Cruz’s death occurred during one of the biggest gang crackdowns in city history. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Guillermo Barajas is on parole for burglary. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Chris Plummer, right, a probation officer and member of the Monterey County Gang Task Force, takes a paring knife from the pocket of a suspect. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Residents of a home on Galindo Street in Salinas wait on the driveway as gang officers question them. Eighteen people were found in the home, including four children. Six people were taken into custody. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Gang officers prepare to enter a home. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Gang task force members talk to the family of a probationer during a search. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Monterey County Gang Task Force members question residents in a Salinas home during a search for evidence. The city has 3,500 gang members. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Officers search homes. Authorities say the gangs have been linked to many crimes, but their main business is moving drugs from Southern to Northern California. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A man is detained during a home search. The gang unit’s main mission is to disrupt the gangs by making thousands of traffic stops and random searches of the homes of gangsters free on parole or probation. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Azahel Cruz was in his Spider-Man pajamas in his house when he was shot. See full story(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
