Shots Fired in East Cliff Plaza Were Gang Related

The East Cliff Shopping Center, located on East Cliff Drive and 14th Avenue in Santa Cruz, was as bustling as ever on Tuesday morning, despite reports of gun shots fired outside of the Dollar Tree store Sunday. 

Police responded to the call of shots fired around 4:45 p.m. but found no victims at the scene of what witnesses called an altercation and then gun shots, according to Deputy April Skalland of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deparment.

"I heard two or three shots fired and then young men running," said an employee of Panaderia Rosal who wished to remain anonymous.

Deputies later tracked down two separate groups in the area who they believe may have been involved in the altercation based on the descriptions given by witnesses, according to Skalland.

"We do believe this was gang-motivated based on the information we recieved from witnesses, and also some of these individuals have been associated with gangs," Skalland said.

Witnesses reported hearing gang slurs.

One of the groups consisted of six males who were located at Shoreline Middle School on 17th Avenue and cited for trespassing on school property, according to Skalland. The group was a mix of juveniles and adults and names were not released. Two men in the other group were arrested for being drunk in public, and their names were not released.

Police also later found a handgun which they believe was the gun shot off at the East Cliff Shopping Center. It was found in a dumpster, inside a backpack, and had been reported stolen in 1989 through the West Covina Police Department, Skalland said. Police believe there was only one gun fired.

"We are now processing this gun for forensic evidence," Skalland said. 

On Tuesday, many of the shop merchants in the Plaza hadn't even heard of the incident.

The Dollar Tree declined comment. 

Last year, two days before Christmas a man was shot in the arm following an altercation in the shopping center. That shooting was gang-related, according to Sgt. Steve Carney of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department.

"I have been here a long, long time but that's the only other time I've heard of anything like that happening in the Plaza," said Jorge Hernandez, owner of bakery. 

"A few years back everything kind of went south, but I think that Live Oak has gotten a lot better since then," said Kerla Oliveira, owner of Deli-licious Cafe & Catering. "We cleaned up the side lot here and put in a garden, we had to kick people out of there," Oliveira said of the empty lot adjacent to her shop, which now features plants and a fountain. 

Oliveira said she sees lots of families and school children as clientelle in the Plaza, and is happy to be part of the culturally-mixed group of family-owned businesses—Oliveira is Brazilian, while the other stores in the Plaza besides the Dollar Tree are owned by Mexican, Japanese and Chinese families. 

"Live Oak is such a mix between the rich and the poor. You have the rich people coming here to vacation in these nice houses and then across the street you have the apartment complexes," Oliveira said. "Things like this happen in every neighborhood, and more so downtown."

The Live Oak Shopping Plaza is home to the Santa Cruz Integrative Medicine and Chi Center, Deli-Licious, a dry cleaner, a liquor store, a movie store, a bakery, a hair salon, a print shop, and the Dollar Tree. It is also the site of the Santa Cruz Community Farmers Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.