RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Aiexpress) — Seven Lao workers at an illegal marijuana farm in Southern California were shot and killed more than four years ago. On Friday, police said they think the killings were done by gang members and asked anyone with information to come forward.
The suspects are thought to have been Laotian gang members from the San Diego area, according to the police. Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County said that getting information is hard because at least some witnesses and victims may have come to the U.S. illegally and may have been victims of human trafficking.
Bianco said that the migrants who worked at the farm might have been afraid of getting caught and not trusting the police. He also said that many of them are from countries where the police are “corrupt and further victimize the victims.”
“When these immigrants come to our country, they are afraid of the police, which makes them easy targets for crime. This is because the criminals know that the victims will not want to help with the investigation or may not report the crime at all.” “This case shown that to be true,” Bianco said.
The speaker also said, “We know there are people out there who know more about these murders and who the suspects are.”
The sheriff’s office said in a news release that they have found a dark-colored, mid-size SUV that they think was used in the killings in the remote town of Aguanga.
Bianco said that the killings were part of a “home invasion type robbery” that was done to get money. He said that a big amount of marijuana was left behind.
Six bodies were found on the land, and a woman who had been shot there later died at a hospital.
The land had temporary homes and a nursery where more than 20 people lived. The police found over 1,000 marijuana plants and over 300 pounds of weed that had been processed.
In January 2018, the state made it legal for most people to buy marijuana for casual use. But the black market kept going, in part because high marijuana taxes in the legal system made people look for better deals in the black market.
Aguanga is a small mountain town that is 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of San Diego. Along the dirt roads that go through the town, there are horse farms.
