Hollister, CA: Apparent murder-suicide involved estranged couple

Jul 12, 2010
By Connor Ramey and Kollin Kosmicki
Police are saying the two deceased residents following the 'possible' murder-suicide had been a couple, while another resident was injured by gunfire and a fourth person, a young child, was unharmed.

Two Hollister residents are dead after what police are calling a "possible" murder-suicide Sunday night in an apartment complex on Diablo Drive, while investigators believe the two had been in a two-year relationship that recently ended, according to police.

The shootings occurred at 1470 Diablo Drive on Hollister's south side at around 9 p.m. There were a total of four people in the home at the time in an apartment complex that houses four units. One other resident, the 22-year-old daughter of the deceased woman, was injured and transported to a Bay Area hospital, and her 5-year-old daughter was found on scene and uninjured, police Sgt. David Westrick said.

Police estimated there were about three to four shots fired and no signs of forced entry, said Capt. Carlos Reynoso. He noted that neighbors had heard screaming and yelling before the shots were fired.

Neighbors on Monday morning still were stunned over the shootings. A neighbor in a home adjacent to the apartment building where it occurred said she and her family were having a late dinner when they heard three shots fired. The woman, who declined to provide her name, said authorities were at the crime scene into early-morning hours. She said the residents of the unit had lived there for about two years.

A woman had lived at the home with a boyfriend,Jose Gerardo Mandujano-Castro, along with her grown daughter and another young child, neighbors said.

The apartment complex is located just south of Sunnyslope Road and north of Sunset Drive. The neighborhood includes mostly houses, but some apartment complexes as well.

Police responded at 9:12 p.m. to a report of a person being shot. On arrival, police found a deceased adult female and deceased adult male, according to a statement released by police Monday afternoon.

County communications dispatchers received a 911 call from a woman reporting she has been shot, according to the statement. The woman said that a man shot her, then shot her mother and himself. Officers from the Hollister Police Department and San Benito County Sheriff's Office arrived at the home and discovered the apartment locked and secured with a metal security door.

Officers had to break through the security door and the main door to enter the home, according to police. Officers discovered the two deceased residents and another person suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The child there was temporarily placed with Child Protective Services pending reunification with family. The police statement notes how the "deceased persons appeared to have been in a dating relationship that had recently ended."

Initial findings and witness statements suggest the incident was a murder-suicide, according to the statement. The investigation is ongoing, and the identities of the involved parties are not being released pending notification of next of kin.

A spokesman for the San Benito County Sheriff's Office, which acts as the coroner as well, did not immediately return phone calls. The Hollister Fire Department responded, too, but officials also were not available immediately.