Watsonville Police confirm shooting victim was 15

UPDATE 11.28.14, 11:30am: Friday Watsonville police identified the victim of Wednesday night’s shooting as 15-year-old Jason Reyes.

Investigators say Reyes was attending the the continuation school in Watsonville, Esperanza School.

There were no weapons found on Reyes and police still have no leads on suspects, infact they still have little information about the shooting at this time.

Police say Reyes was a self-admitted gang member.

Police now believe the shooting an hour prior near Bowker Road was related.
Police are concerned with retaliation and are taking the necessary steps in order to prevent another shooting or gang incident.

This murder marks the 8th homicide in Watsonville and the 6th gang motivated
homicide. Last year Watsonville had 3 homicides.

11.27.14: It’s a somber Thanksgiving Day for a group of teens in Watsonville -as they gather to mourn the loss of their young friend. They said they weren’t ready to talk to News Channel 5 about the incident, but less than 24 hours after their friend was shot and killed they built a makeshift memorial, lit candles, and said a few words.

On Wednesday night just before 6:30 p.m. officers said a teenage boy was confronted in the area of Ross Avenue and Airport Boulevard – and shot multiple times.

“We found a young teenager with multiple gunshot wounds. From the information we have it appears that there is some gang ties,” said Lt. Saul Gonzalez with the Watsonville Police Department.

After the teen was shot, firefighters across the street saw the victim attempting to stop traffic, waving down drivers for help.

“The fire department actually came out and saw the victim, tended to him, and called the police,” said Gonzalez.

The teen was flown from the scene to a Bay Area hospital but died before he got there. Detective were in Thanksgiving Day working around the clock to try and solve this case, even with the little information they had.