A North Bay community is going through shock and mourning after two teenage girls were gunned down in the street over the weekend.
A 19-year-old and a 17-year-old were shot and killed on the 400 block of Riverside Drive Saturday at around 8 p.m.
Joseph said he knew both of the young victims, and they were something special
“These were not two random strangers. We’re talking about two strong females. These weren’t just two randoms. These were people with family ties and we stay strong, you know?” said the friend of the victims.
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Brandon Perez was working on his car just down the street and had a clear view of it all when the gunfire shattered the silence Saturday night.
“I heard the gunshots, then I see the girl sprinting to the car and speed off, and the car went down the street,” he said.
Perez ran to the scene and saw one of the victims, bleeding profusely.
“She was caught on the fence and by the time I got there she was, you know? Already like, her final breaths were being taken. It was something else for sure,” he said.
Napa police investigators believe this is an isolated incident, but not random. They are hoping someone can come forward with surveillance video showing the incident and that black getaway car to help them solve this city’s first homicide since 2022.
Police say they won’t release the name of the 19-year-old until Thursday’s autopsy, and won’t release the name of the juvenile victim.
Joseph said he doesn’t have all the answers for this tragedy that took the lives of his friends, but he feels certain of one thing.
“As a local, I would like to say this is not gang related. Yeah, the area and the circumstances, it’s easy to spin the narrative, but this is not gang related. This is a brawl between two girls, and someone took it too far,” he said.
One of the people stopping by the memorial Monday was a friend of the father of one of the victims, and a longtime resident of Napa.
“This is devastating for everybody in town. Napa is a very tight knit community. We’re all connected in some way,” said Mario Moreno.
