Woodland police release sketch of a person of interest in unsolved deadly shooting
Investigators on Tuesday released a sketch of a man they say is the first of multiple persons of interest wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting death of a 20-year-old man earlier this year at his Woodland home.
Officials said a witness saw suspicious people near the shooting scene on Jan. 9, when Isaac Morales was gunned down at his home on College Street, the Woodland Police Department announced on its Facebook page.
The witness met with a police sketch artist to draw a composite sketch of what appears to be a male wearing a knitted cap.
“We will be releasing sketches of those additional ‘persons of interest’ soon,” police officials said in Tuesday’s Facebook post.
The investigation into Morales’ death is among three Woodland police homicide investigations that remain unsolved.
Those three shooting deaths, which occurred within three months of each other, include Alvaro Gamera, who was killed in the area of North and East streets in October, and Raymond Ortiz, who was killed while walking along Elm Street in November.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on Oct. 21, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of North and East streets. As the officers arrived at the scene, a witness pointed to a vehicle involved in the shooting leaving.
Police pursued the vehicle, which did not stop. The car arrived at Woodland Memorial Hospital and officers discovered found two men inside had gunshot wounds. The men were treated in the emergency room.
Police returned to the North and East streets shooting scene, and a detective found a body lying north of the intersection next to the railroad tracks. The detective performed CPR on the injured victim, later identified as Gamera, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shortly before 7 p.m. on Nov. 17, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of North and Elm streets. The officers found Ortiz injured near the 100 block of Elm Street. Police said Ortiz died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Woodland Daily Democrat has reported that Gamera was a 16-year-old boy from Esparto, and Ortiz was a 44-year-old Woodland resident.
Unsolved homicide cases
“The unfortunate reality in cases like these is that we rarely receive cooperation from witnesses or those with important information about these crimes,” police said in a May 9 Facebook post. “There are individuals in this community right now that have the information that would bring at least a little bit of closure to the families of Alvaro, Raymond and Isaac.”
In the wake of a February shooting that injured a teenage boy, Woodland Mayor Rich Lansburgh wrote a column in the Daily Democrat, decrying what he called “gang violence ramping up” in the city. Following Morales’ death, the Police Department announced the formation of a gang task force, the newspaper reported.
On Tuesday, Woodland police thanked those who responded to the May 9 request for information from the public about the three deadly shootings, and that investigators were following up on those leads.
Officials asked anyone who recognizes the person of interest or has information about any of these homicides to call the department’s Investigations Bureau at 530-661-7800 or our its tip line at 530-661-7851.
