Multiple People Killed in Shooting in Moss Landing, California

Updated 23:00 UTC: Sheriff names the two teenagers killed in Moss Landing shooting

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday named the two teenagers killed in the shooting along Jetty Road in Moss Landing early on Monday. They are Marco Antonio Perez, 15, and Nathaniel Flores, 13, both from Salinas.

School officials in Salinas confirmed both boys were part of the local student community and offered condolences to their families. The Sheriff's Office released no information about a suspect or a motive, and it gave no update on the condition of the two people who were injured. Detectives are still investigating the shooting.

Anyone with information can contact Detective Sergeant Nick Kennedy at 831-755-3773 or Detective Richard Geng at 831-759-7279. Tips can be anonymous.

Updated 22:05 UTC: Sheriff confirms two dead and two injured in Moss Landing shooting

Monterey County Sheriff's Commander Andy Rosas confirmed at a news conference on Monday afternoon that two people were found dead at the scene of the shooting along Jetty Road in Moss Landing, and that two other people were injured. Rosas said the two people found at the scene died from gunshot wounds. A third person was found at the scene and taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and a fourth person was identified after arriving at a local hospital with gunshot wounds, according to the sheriff's office.

Rosas said investigators have no suspect information and no motive to share, and that no arrests have been made. The people killed have not been identified, and Rosas said officials do not know whether the people involved knew each other. He called the shooting an isolated incident, said there is no active threat to the community, and said the investigation will be lengthy, with an autopsy to determine how the two people died. Investigators are also processing a second location in the area out of caution, and Rosas said they do not know whether it is related. California State Parks Chief Ranger Mike Dippel said the beach closes at sunset and that anyone there at the time of the shooting was there after hours. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 831-755-5111.

Multiple people were killed and others were injured in a shooting early on Monday in Moss Landing, a small coastal community in Monterey County, California, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said. The shooting happened shortly after midnight on Nov. 2 along Jetty Road, near Moss Landing State Beach.

Deputies and detectives went to Jetty Road after the shooting was reported and were still at the scene on Monday morning. The Sheriff's Office said the shooting left multiple fatalities and casualties, but it did not give a number for the people killed or a number for the people hurt.

What officials have said

The Sheriff's Office has released few details so far. It has not named any of the people who were killed or injured, and it has not described the circumstances that led to the gunfire. Officials also did not say whether a suspect had been identified or whether anyone was in custody on Monday morning.

One point officials stated clearly was the safety of the surrounding area. "There is no active threat to the Moss Landing Community at this time," the Sheriff's Office said in its first statement on the shooting.

The office called the case an active investigation and said no further information would be released at this time. That means the basic questions in a case like this, who was shot, who fired, and why, remained unanswered on Monday morning while detectives worked at the scene.

Jetty Road and the state beach are closed

California State Parks Police closed Jetty Road and Moss Landing State Beach at the request of the Sheriff's Office while investigators worked. Residents were asked to avoid the area.

Jetty Road runs off State Route 1 to the beach at Moss Landing. Closing the road and the beach keeps the public away from the investigation scene and keeps the road clear for deputies, detectives and other responders. Officials did not say on Monday morning when the road or the beach would reopen.

What is not yet known

By late Monday morning, authorities had not released the number of people killed, the number of people injured, or the condition of the injured. They had not released any information about the victims, and they had not said what happened in the moments before the shooting.

The Sheriff's Office declined to provide additional information, citing the active investigation. In early statements after a shooting, investigators often hold back names until families have been notified, and hold back details of the scene until witnesses have been interviewed and evidence has been collected. No such explanation was given in this case, and officials simply said the investigation was active.

A small community on Monterey Bay

Moss Landing is an unincorporated coastal community on Monterey Bay, along Highway 1 between Monterey and Santa Cruz. It sits about 18 miles northeast of Monterey. Jetty Road, where the shooting happened, leads to Moss Landing State Beach, a stretch of sand and dunes used by surfers, anglers and visitors to the bay shore.

For a community of that size, a shooting with multiple deaths is a major event, and the closed beach and road were the visible signs of it on Monday. The Sheriff's Office is the lead agency on the case, and its deputies and detectives remained on Jetty Road through the morning.