A 27-year-old resident was killed Tuesday night in a drive-by shooting in the area of Cerra Vista Drive and Union Road.
Police responded at 7:27 p.m. Tuesday to reports of shots fired. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing a gray four-door car eastbound on Union Road while a passenger fired gunshots toward a vehicle westbound on the same street, said Capt. Bob Brooks of the Hollister Police Department.
Minutes later, Jimmy Verdeja of Hollister was brought into the emergency room at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, according to a press release from police. He was suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest, and medical staff couldn't revive him. Verdeja was pronounced dead at 8:53 p.m.
Several other people were in the vehicle with Verdeja at the time of the shooting. Hollister police contacted them, but Brooks said they are not cooperating with the investigation and that some of the vehicle occupants are members of the Sureno street gang.
"There were some witnesses at the scene that provided some information, but there are others out there that know much more," Brooks said. "If you are a witness and you don't want to cooperate with police, you don't have to, but that sure doesn't help the community."
He added that police will aggressively investigate the case and that it won't be tolerated.
"If there is someone out there with information that would help, they need to get us that information," he said.
Anyone with such information should call Detective Jeff Caires at (831) 636-4330.
Jeff Gatlin Jeff Gatlin is a staff writer at The Hollister Free Lance. You can call him at (831) 637-5566 or send him an email.
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