On Friday, December 30th, 2022, at 11:52 pm, the Turlock Police Department was dispatched to a reported sideshow in progress at the intersection of South Ave and S Orange St, Turlock.
When officers arrived on scene, they found about 30 vehicles and 200 pedestrians from those vehicles crowding the area, with several vehicles actively doing burnouts. An additional 30 to 40 vehicles were also seen exiting the freeway onto W Main St and making their way towards the sideshow.
Officers requested assistance from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office due to the large number of people involved and stood by while unknown participants began pointing lasers at them.
Deputies arrived on scene and began assisting officers with dispersing the crowd. Several traffic stops were made and a pursuit also occurred. The pursuit ended with the suspect vehicle colliding into an uninvolved bystander’s vehicle at the intersection of northbound State Route 99 and W Main St. The California Highway Patrol responded to handle the collision and we’re unaware of their findings, however, no one suffered any notable injuries. We’ve reached out to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and are waiting for additional information from them regarding the pursuit.
The group eventually left the city, however, were noticed by the sheriff’s airship which was overhead about an hour later, returning and reassembling at the intersection of Fulkerth Rd and N Tegner Rd.
Officers responded and as they began arriving in the area, heard what they believed to be about five gunshots coming from the crowd. Their suspicions were quickly confirmed after the sheriff’s airship reported seeing at least one person down in the intersection and dispatch becoming inundated with several 9-1-1 calls reporting a shooting at the location.
Within two minutes, officers teamed up and entered the crowd as several vehicles began fleeing the area, finding two shooting victims and detaining several individuals. An officer ordered one of the fleeing vehicles to stop, however, its driver ignored the officer’s order and continued to drive off.
One of the two victims, who was later identified as Dayron Ledezma, 20, of Tracy, was found to be unconscious with life-threatening injuries from a gunshot wound. Officers began lifesaving efforts and were relieved by members of the Turlock Fire Department a short time later, however, Ledezma unfortunately succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
The other victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries also from a gunshot wound and was ground transported by American Medical Response to a local hospital.
The vehicle whose driver had previously ignored an officer’s order to stop was followed by the sheriff’s airship which guided deputies on the ground to it. Deputies attempted to make a traffic stop on the vehicle, however, it fled and a pursuit ensued. The pursuit ended with the vehicle colliding into a canal at the intersection of E Taylor Rd and N Gratton Rd in Denair. The California Highway Patrol responded to handle the collision and we’re unaware of their findings, however, no one suffered any notable injuries. We’ve reached out to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and are waiting for additional information from them regarding the pursuit.
While all of this was going on, a third man arrived at Emanuel Medical Center with a gunshot wound. Officers responded and interviewed him, being told that he had been shot at an unknown location about twenty minutes away. Detectives are currently still investigating to determine whether or not this victim had anything to do with the sideshow and the homicide that occurred during it.
Detectives and members of the department’s Major Accident Investigations Team were called out to the scene, where they spent over eight hours processing it, interviewing witnesses, and doing a variety of other things.
So far, it’s been revealed that the shooting occurred as a result of a previous conflict and that it was not a random act of violence. It’s not yet been revealed, however, if either of the victims were the intended targets or if they were accidentally struck.
“Detectives are relentlessly working this investigation to determine why this crime occurred,” said Turlock Police Detective Brandon Bertram. “These incidents are a huge drain on our local resources, I would like to thank the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol for their help in response to this incident. We are asking anyone who was a witness to this incident to contact us. We are also asking anyone with videos of the illegal sideshow or shooting to contact Detective Raul Garcia at 209-664-7314,” he continued.
Turlock Police Sergeant Michael Parmley added to that, saying, “The Turlock Police Department would like to advise the public that we take these illegal sideshow incidents very seriously, as they are very dangerous to our residents and other motorists. The Turlock Police Department continues to dedicate resources to combat these types of illegal sideshow activities in cooperation with our allied agency partners.”
The investigation remains ongoing, anyone with information that could assist in it is encouraged to call Turlock Police Detective Brandon Bertram at 209-664-7323.
