WATSONVILLE — The Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office has identified two men killed in separate and likely unrelated Watsonville shootings Saturday night.
Rafael “Viejo” Salcedo, 44, of Watsonville was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at East Front and Marchant streets around 5:30 p.m., according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn.
In a separate call four hours later, Watsonville police officers found Aaron “Rooster” Lucio, 26, of Salinas, shot just before 9:30 p.m. at Main Street and Pennsylvania Drive, Keehn said.
The two homicides were in addition to a third nonfatal shooting in the city Saturday. Police also responded to reports of gunshots at 11:30 p.m. on Blackbird Circle, but were unable to find anyone involved. Then, just before midnight, a shooting victim was dropped off at an area hospital. He was later airlifted to an out-of-county trauma center in response to critically severe injuries.
Members of the public with information on any of these cases are asked to call the Watsonville Police Department’s Investigations Division at 831-768-3350 or to leave a message on the department’s anonymous line at 831-768-3544.
