mostly nonfiction and bakersfield news | July 5th, 2009
5 Shot, 1 Dies At July 4th Party Bloodfest
A July 4th celebration and family reunion turned into a scene of blood and mayhem in central Bakersfield, leaving one man shot to death and four others wounded. The gun-toting assailant is on the run. Gang-related crime is possibly to blame.
A googlemaps image of T Street and 2nd Street where the shooting took place shows a quaint Bakersfield neighborhood of small homes, mulberry trees and manicured lawns. A boat is parked in one driveway while nearby on 2nd Street, a school bus rests alongside a home and an RV is parked at another. These are signs of a working class neighborhood, if any. Any ominous sign would be the “for sale” signs seen up and down the street. Hidden markers of a gang-controlled area or a result of the skyrocketed foreclosure rate in Bakersfield? Either way, this was the scene of a July Fourth celebration bloodfest, with an assailant(s) who lost sight of the Fourth of July as a holiday.
According to the Bakersfield Police Department, the shooting took place at 12:34 a.m. (early on July 5). Police dispatch received a call of a possible assault with a firearm near the intersection of First Street and T Street. Units were sent to the scene.
Police said patrol officers arrived within a minute and located 5 shooting victims. All had been attending a family reunion/Independence Day celebration at a residence in the 200 block of T Street. Four victims were transported to area hospitals with minor to moderate injuries. The fifth, Anthony Mack Johnson, 37 of, Jacksonville Texas, sustained multiple gunshot wounds, but succumbed to his injuries and died at the scene, police said.
Johnson’s wife, Chrystin Johnson, 35, also of Jacksonville Texas, sustained a moderate injury from a gunshot wound to her leg. Others wounded by gunfire include Cynthia Mackey, 46, of Bakersfield, who was shot in the hand; Lavar Johnson, 32, of Madera, sustained a serious gunshot wound to his abdomen; Larry Dellouette, 62, of Los Angeles, was shot in the foot.
Police said their investigation revealed that the assailant — a black male in his late teens — was possibly accompanied by another black male and a black female also in their late teens. They were seen walking southbound in the middle of the roadway in the 200 block of T Street.
While walking past a residence where a large group of people were holding a family reunion, police believe the assailant suddenly brandished a semi-automatic handgun and began to indiscriminately shoot into the crowd, where he struck five people. Police said the suspects then ran from the area and were last witnessed heading south on T Street toward First Street.
Unsurprisingly, police said in their press release: “Gang involvement has not been confirmed but remains a possibility.” Police did not say who might have been the intended target, or what local gangs may have been affiliated with the shooting.
Anyone with information regarding this homicide is encouraged to contact the Bakersfield Police Department at 661-327-7111 or Detective Martin Heredia at 661-326-3873.
The 200 block of T Street.
Image from Googlemaps
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