2 killed in Monterey County shooting

1235. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Marla. This is Fox 11 and Fox Local Los Angeles. We want to get you to a press conference that just started. This is in Monterey County, where there was a deadly shooting on a beach in Moss Landing. It's Moss Landing State Beach right near there. Multiple people reportedly killed and injured. Monterey County Sheriff's Department is holding an update right now. Let's listen in live. Sure, but if anybody has any questions, we can take a try. Were the two people who were found outside here, what injuries did they suffer that caused them to be shot? Were they shot? We don't have that information at this time. So it's unknown if they were shot or not? Correct. We have two people that are deceased at the scene. Can you tell us if they were men? We don't want to release that information at this time. Can you tell us if they were people from our Central Coast area or visitors? That we don't know. Could you describe the scene? It sounds to us like there are two locations and that one of them might look like a party scene. Could you describe what it looks like over there? So the crime scene itself is on Jetty Road. We are aware of a location that is in the area. We are processing that out of an abundance of caution as part of our investigation. At this time we do not know if that's related to this incident. Any evidence that there were they were partying there? I couldn't tell you if this is a place that's commonly you know an area that's common for parties again as I just explained here I just answered we are aware of that secondary location that was just described we are processing it just in case but we have nothing at this time that tells us or can confirm that these two locations are related Connected to this question, were there any previous calls that you have received in this area for reports of any trouble? No, the only call that came in was a call of shots heard that was reported by a citizen. We have seen some residents say that late night gatherings and even drugs on the beach or near the beach aren't entirely uncommon. Is that something you guys were aware of or something you're working to get on top of? I'll take an answer. I'll go ahead and turn that over to state parks. Thanks for your question. Mike Dippel, California State Parks. I'm a Chief Ranger for Monterey District. Yes, we have a lot of popular beaches here along the Central Coast. State Parks, particularly in this district, has 100 miles of coast from Santa Cruz County down to San Luis Obispo County that we oversee. Many of our beaches are some of the most beautiful and popular beaches in the coast of California, and we do have people that come to gather and And have parties that this beach does close at sunset. So these people were here after hours. Mike, I noticed that there's the gate at the entrance there. Would that gate have been locked? And does, I mean, how did these people get in here? And then, you know, maybe if the gate was locked, I'm not sure if it was or not, but maybe that might have prevented this tragedy from happening. So we have many parking lots in our district. Some of them have gates, some of them do not. This particular gate, we do have a gate out by the highway. We do not close it routinely. Due to the amount of public access that's, People coming into this park want to utilize for fishing and surfing early in the morning and we do not have staff to get out here at that time. So the gate was open. In your investigation, did you find any weapons at all in the area? We don't have that information at this time. In your news release, you guys said you didn't believe there was any ongoing threat to the public. What was the rationale for saying that? Correct. At this time, we did not believe that there is anybody that was related to this, that is related to this, that is still in this immediate area, or that there was ever any threat to the surrounding community of Moss Landing. Can you say what leads you to believe that? The fact that there was nobody in the area that appeared to be a threat to the community. Any evidence that this may have been a gang related? We don't have that information at this point. Again, we're very early in this investigation. It's very important that we not speculate as to what happened here. We do not have those details. This is going to be a lengthy investigation. Our detectives are doing everything they can to try to resolve this and try to get an idea of what is happening. For that reason as well, we ask the community that is watching and listening today, That if at any point you have any information, whether it's something you know directly or something that you've been told, that could be connected to this. We ask that you contact the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. Our number is 831-755-5111. You can remain anonymous. We're providing information to our agency. To clarify, when that third person arrived with gunshot wounds, are they dead? Are they dead? I'm sorry, what's your question again? The third person who arrived with gunshot wounds in the hospital, how... When did, did you say they died? No, I stated that we do not know that person's status at this time. Oh, we don't know the status? Correct. Has, uh, can we notify? Can we notify? The first step would be to identify the decedents. That has not taken place. How long, sorry, go ahead. How long are you expecting the beach to be closed for? We don't have that. It's as long as our crime scene unit takes to process the scene and collect any evidence. Are they still on site doing that? They are, yes. Is it possible that there's a shooter still at large? There is a possibility of that. We have not said that that's not the case. We have simply said that we do not feel that there's an active threat to the Moss Landing community. So, Rosa, for clarification, I thought I heard shooting. We don't know the wounds, the extent of the injuries. I mean, it was a shooting, and the deceased are dead as a result of being shot, correct? We have two fatalities, two fatalities that are confirmed. We do not know the circumstances under which those fatalities occurred. There are many scenarios in which firearms can be used. We don't know if you're listening carefully, we're not calling this a homicide. We haven't confirmed if this is a homicide or suicide or any other type of death. We have not made that declaration yet. We're investigating the circumstances under which these individuals died as a result of gunshot wounds here at the scene. But so people did die from gunshot wounds? We can confirm the people here, yes. The people that are on scene, yes. So the two people here died from gunshot wounds? That is correct, yes. Can you just tell us that again? Yes. How many people did you find dead? The individuals that were declared deceased appear to have died as a result of gunshot injuries. And the one at the hospital you're not sure of? Correct. And so you're saying that it is a possibility that you're not ruling it a homicide, but they could have been maybe, you know, just having fun with firearms or been careless or... Correct. We don't know the circumstances at this time. What did he do? We don't have that information, sir. The person that called in, did they report hearing a lot of gunfire, several shots? It was just multiple shots. Yeah, I don't have the number of shots that they reported. Rosa, is there any chance that there was anything online, like a pop-up party that maybe brought people in? I couldn't answer that question. I just have one question for Mike. I mean, Mike, this is a popular... area for bird watchers, hikers, bikers, moving forward. I mean, this thing's, you know, once it makes the news, Any concern people, visitors should have to your state parks? No. Like Commander Rosa said, we believe this is an isolated incident here to the incident that we're investigating. And as soon as the crime scene here is released and the area is deemed safe and clear of investigation, we will reopen. And folks expect additional patrols over the next few days at least, and what does that collaboration look like between you guys? So State Parks routinely comes out to Moss Landing, State Beach, and all of these beaches as part of our daily patrol, and we work very closely with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office on that, and we want to thank the Monterey County Sheriff's Office for helping with this investigation, and we will increase our patrols in this area in the coming days to have a presence. Also to clarify, so for the first, Were they transferred from this scene or from a different location? That was from this scene, and I don't know what type of injuries they had. All I was told was non-life-threatening injuries. The reporting party, were they on scene? I don't know where they were. I don't have that location. And to clarify, you haven't ID'd anyone? Correct. Because not IDing them publicly or you yourselves have not been able to figure out who they are yet. A forensic autopsy will take place in order to attempt to identify the decedents in this investigation. Who's leading the investigation? Monterey County? State Parks? Correct. This is the Monterey County Sheriff's Investigation. The California State Parks has asked us to conduct this investigation. Do you have witnesses who are cooperating? I don't know that. I don't know if there are any witnesses. I know you're not calling it a homicide, but what number of death is this for the county as far as once you're investigating? I don't have that information at this time. Okay all right guys as information becomes available we will provide that information to the public again very early in the investigation and there's not much more that we can put out at this time so we appreciate you coming out here and we will provide you those details as they become available. Thank you. Is there any chance to have something in Spanish? Yeah well yeah Spanish media will go ahead and provide a statement to you right now. Right now, like a brief statement. All right. So you've been listening in Monterey County Sheriff official there alongside California State Parks. They're working together on this investigation. They're not calling it a homicide just yet. Well, we can confirm that it is a deadly shooting. I'm going to bring Sky Fox images full here. And you're seeing the crime scene investigators there on the beach. This is Moss Landing State Beach on state property. And there's several. Uh, evidence markers down below. This is where that deadly shooting took place in the early morning hours of today, Monday, November the 2nd. They got a call for a shooting. Two people pronounced dead there on the scene. Others were injured, working to get how many people in all were injured. Uh, but we can also tell you that they say there's a possibility that the shooter is still out there, still not in custody. With that said, He is confident that there is no longer a threat or there was never a threat to the general public. So there is no threat to the general public as the investigation continues. And several crime scene investigators down there on the scene at Moss Landing State Beach. This is in Monterey County. Think of places like Salinas is adjacent to this. Yes. Of course, there's Pebble Beach and Carmel not too far away in Monterey County. Moss Landing officially is where this took place on a state beach, and which is why the California State Parks is also partnering in this investigation. But the lead agency is Monterey County Sheriff's Department. As soon as we get some more information, and it should also be noted that no one has been identified, the deceased, the two who were killed. Or injured or any sort of suspect information. None of that was provided just yet. So limited information, but we wanted to get you caught up there live in that press conference in Monterey County. 12:47, we're going to step away for our next two-minute break. We'll have more for you right after this. Stay with us.