Exactly one week after four teenagers were gunned down at a neighborhood park in Oceanside, police gathered to canvass the area and pass out flyers in their continuing efforts to track down the shooting suspects.
On Mar. 13 at around 9 p.m., four teens were shot by unknown suspects at Libby Lake Park on Calle Montecito. The shooting left two of the teens dead and the other two injured.
The teenage victims killed at the park were later identified by family and friends as 16-year-old Edgar Sanchez Rios and 13-year-old Melanie Virgen.
The two other injured teens, ages 17 and 18, were hospitalized. The 17-year-old was released from the hospital earlier this week, while the 18-year-old remains hospitalized in critical condition. Their names have not been released.
Witnesses told police they saw several people running from the scene following the fatal park shooting. Since then, Investigators have been searching for several Hispanic male suspects that may have fled the park in a gray or silver, 2005 or 2006 Toyota Tacoma or Toyota Tundra extended cab style pickup truck.
Exactly one week after the shooting, the investigation into the murders of the teens continues.
On Wednesday night Oceanside police and detectives canvassed Libby Lake Park and adjoining neighborhoods passing out flyers featuring the photographs of the young shooting victims.
Above the photos, the flyer read: “Who murdered these kids?”
Police hope the flyers -- printed in both English and Spanish -- generate more leads in this case and eventually lead them to the suspects responsible for the murders of Rios and Virgen and the shooting of the other two wounded teens.
Oceanside police are asking anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the suspects in this case to contact Det. Mark LaVake at (760) 435-4872 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Last week’s shooting at Libby Lake Park was near the site of another fatal shooting that happened there almost two years ago. On May 3, 2011, the bodies of teens Fernando Felix Solano, 16, and Sandra Salgado, 14, were found shot to death near the park. Today, a memorial site stands in the area.
With the loss of four young lives in less than two years, law enforcement and city officials have vowed to make immediate changes at the park in hopes of preventing more violence.
The Oceanside Police Department and the city plan to add more lights along an embankment in the park and cut down trees to provide a clean line of sight in the area.
