30 drive-by shootings: Tulare sheriff, feds make 25 arrests targeting Norteño gang

Twenty-five alleged Norteño gang members are in custody after 300 officers served dozens of warrants Thursday targeting the gang in Tulare County in response to 30 drive-by shootings, including one of an 8-year-old girl.

The “violent gang members are the cause of havoc and terror,” Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. “They bring drugs into our community.”

Boudreaux said the shooting of the 8-year-old in September 2019 drove the task force, made up of FBI, DEA, Homeland Security agents and officers from Tulare, Kings, Fresno and Kern counties.

He said the girl, from the community of Seville, was the unintended target of gang warfare, and added that she continues to recover from her injuries.

Other drive-bys were committed in the Tulare County towns of Visalia, Cutler and Orosi.

Boudreaux singled out Edward Moran, of Cutler, as an alleged shot-caller in the Norteño gang and Jorge Barajas as the alleged gunman in the shooting of the girl.

Other crimes committed by gang members, Boudreaux said, included drug sales, gun sales and conspiracy to commit home invasions and murder.

During the raid, officers served 25 warrants and seized 12 pounds of methamphetamine, 150 pounds of processed marijuana, one-half pound of black tar heroin, 18 guns (including four assault rifles), silencers and a hand grenade.

In addition to Tulare County, warrants were served in Fresno County, in Orange Cove, and Kings County.

“This particular street gang has been completely dismantled,” Boudreaux said. “We’re not done. We know there is more street violence out there. More gangs exist.”