Slayings may be tied to human trafficking

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Slayings may be tied to human trafficking
Moreno Valley police and federal immigration agents were looking for suspects who shot three people, two fatally, in an incident that may be tied to human trafficking.
The shootings took place just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a house in the 21000 block of Bay Avenue near Edgemont Street on the western edge of the city.
Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Melissa Nieburger, a spokeswoman for the department, confirmed that three people had been shot, and that the shooting may have been immigration related.
One person died at the scene and one died at the hospital, Nieburger said. A third remained in critical condition late Thursday after seeking help at a cell phone store nearly two miles away from the home.
Moreno Valley police Lt. Chad Bianco said officers on the scene were looking into the possibility that the incident was connected with a human trafficking ring.
Late Thursday, dozens of officers remained at a house on Bay at the end of Edgemont, a long, narrow road with no street lights.
The home was cordoned off by police tape. Across the loosely paved road were yards with no grass and wrought-iron fencing. None of the neighbors had their lights on.
A witness at the cell phone store, in a large shopping center on Canyon Springs Parkway, said a bloodied man walked into the store claiming he had been shot five times by a coyote, a term for a human trafficker.
Ron Olmsted, 36, of Riverside, was in the store when the man entered. He said the man told him and others that he was from Puebla, Mexico, and had come across the U.S. border about 2 a.m., blindfolded, with 10 others.
The man said the smugglers were now demanding more money, Olmstead said.
As the coyotes were trying to contact the man's sister, a fight broke out and he was shot, Olmstead said.
Paramedics were called to the store and the man was put into an ambulance.
Witnesses at the store said the man told them the coyotes were demanding $3,700 from him or his family in the Los Angeles area.
Police were looking for a suspect Thursday night and had cordoned off much of the area, Nieburger said, adding that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were assisting.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/s...19ba99fc7.html

[Twoller]

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