Since Wednesday, the Madera Police Department has pulled together its resources and placed extra officers on duty every night. They plan to continue this through Sunday in an effort to curb the violence and send a strong message to gang members.
Ten extra officers cruised the streets of Madera on Friday night, looking for anything, or anyone, suspicious. "We're looking for anyone that's flying their colors, different gangs represented by different colors so obviously, if they're out and about and they're so blatant to show that, then they're definitely wanting some attention," said Brent Cederquist with the Madera Police Department.
Over the past two weeks, there have been at least six shootings in Madera. Surveillance video, captured at a convenience store on Sunday, shows one of them. In it, you can see the suspect fire four times, then take off in a dark colored vehicle.
Detective s believe it's the same car involved in another gang related incident on Monday. The driver crashed into a house on Fourth and K Street in Madera, after leaving the scene of a shooting. He was taken to the hospital from what appeared to be a gun shot to the head.
There hasn't been a shooting since, leading investigators to believe their operation is working. But, they admit there is still a lot of work to be done as well as a strong message that needs to be sent to gangs who continue to terrorize each other and the streets of Madera.
"It's going to be responded to by law enforcement, that when they wanna go and terrorize the streets, we're going to respond and act and put people in jail for it."
So far, Madera Police have arrested three people related to the recent shootings.
