Back-to-back shootings at Tulare County house parties

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) — Back-to-back shootings involving teenagers occurred in Tulare County this weekend.

Deputies say a 16-year-old boy was shot outside of a large house party Sunday morning.

Investigators say the shots came from a truck off of Avenue 236 West of Tulare.

The teen was flown to a local hospital for surgery and is expected to survive.

Another shooting at a different large party off of Road 144 in Yettem occurred around midnight Saturday morning .

“When they arrived, our deputies heard additional gunshots coming from the party, followed by screaming and yelling,” Ashley Ritchie, Media Supervisor Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said.

Two 18-year-olds, Daniel Tanguma from Porterville, Mathew Mejia from Visalia and 20-year-old Jacob Salinas have been arrested on attempted murder and firearm charges.

Investigators say they are all gang members, telling us the victim shot was one of several men who confronted them for bringing guns into the party.

The man was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and has no gang ties.

“Because this is the second night in a row that we’ve had a shooting at a party like this on a weekend, I would really caution parents to know where their kids are, especially on the weekends or when they go out,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie also says they are grateful nobody was killed, and that this could have been a different conversation.

“Luckily in both of these cases, the victims are going to survive. But this can always turn out so differently. And of course, when somebody is shooting into a large crowd of people, it could have, grave a horrible outcome,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie urges parents to be aware of where their kids are and what kind of parties they are attending.

Anyone with information about these shootings is asked to contact the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at 559-733-6218, or anonymously at 559-725-4194 or tcso@tipnow.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS47 and KSEE24 | YourCentralValley.com.