He’d been here for hours, walked through the scene before the bodies had been removed, and imparted what knowledge he had about the victims to Jerry and his team. Brad recognized three as known associates of Jaime Sanchez, which meant that they were affiliated with Vasco Trejo. It held to reason the rest of the victims were also part of Trejo’s group—possibly new recruits after others had been killed or imprisoned.
“I haven’t heard of anything this big in a long time,” Jerry said, not for the first time. He was antsy and it showed. Brad kept his nerves to himself. A hit of this magnitude put everyone in law enforcement on high alert.
FBI Agent Ryan Quiroz had arrived shortly after Brad, but went off with one of the SAPD detectives to canvass the neighborhood. So far, no one would talk, but Brad hoped that Ryan could convince someone to step forward. Ryan, a sixth-generation Hispanic Texan, spoke fluent Spanish with a keen ear for different dialects. Ryan had been helpful in past joint operations because of his linguistic skills and non-cop-like demeanor, but Brad wasn’t as confident this time around. Getting drugs out of neighborhoods was one thing—many of the residents, while completely distrustful of law enforcement, didn’t like the proliferation of drugs in their schools and communities. Turning in a mass murderer with gang or cartel affiliations was a far more dangerous ball game.
“Fielding,” one of the senior crime scene techs called over to them.
Brad followed Jerry to where the crime techs were cataloging evidence.
“Have something?”
“A whole lot of weird something.” He looked at Brad. “I’m Ash Dominguez. Donnelly, right?”
“Brad. You processed the Sanchez storage facility a couple months ago.”
“Yep. So, we’ve counted two hundred shots fired, which is a rough estimate.”
“Shit. Do you know what type of weapons?”
“M4. There were several rounds that were ejected or dropped. They didn’t police their brass. We’ll process everything—might get some prints. These gang bangers don’t usually wear gloves. Not that prints are going to help us find these bastards.”
“M4s are primarily military issue.”
“Yep. But you know as well as I do that the US government has sent them far and wide, not to mention that shipments have been stolen.”
Two months ago, the DEA had recovered part of a stolen shipment of military rifles down in Mexico that had been stolen by Trejo’s operation. Had someone in Trejo’s organization sold the rest of the guns? Was this an exchange gone bad? Or a completely different set of weapons?
“You have an idea?” Jerry asked Brad.
“I might. But I need more intel. We’re certain the dead men were all Sanchez/Trejo’s group?”
“No doubt on three of them. Working on the others,” Jerry said.
“Want more weird?” Ash asked. “The killers didn’t take the drugs. We’re still processing, but there’s approximately twelve pounds of heroin, thirty-six packages. Of course, we need to test it at the lab. How much is that worth?”
“Depending on the quality, that’s probably a street value of a million bucks.” Definitely a hefty score. “Was it hidden?”
Ash shook his head. “And if there’d been money, the shooters took it.”
“Did you get any electronics?”
“Yeah, bagged and tagged and photographed. There was a computer system in the drug room, all shot up. Don’t know if we can get anything from it, but we’ll try.”
“Vigilante?” Jerry asked.
“God, I hope not,” Brad said. But leaving the drugs behind didn’t scream that this was a gang hit. A rival gang would take the drugs.
Ash said, “Just a gut feeling looking at the evidence, I still need to talk to my team and recreate the scene, but here’s my take. Minimum of four shooters. Looks like the building was taken from all points of entry. These guys didn’t have a chance. Half of them couldn’t even draw their own guns. They were all carrying, even the girls. The killers opened fire until everyone was down, then they went around and put a bullet in everyone’s head, to guarantee they were dead. I have some possibly helpful news. We collected blood by one of the rear doors, with a trail leading to the road. A sufficient amount to suggest one of the attackers got hit.”
“Good—we’ll alert hospitals and clinics,” Jerry said.
“Already done,” Ash said, “but some clinics won’t report.”
Brad had some ideas on where someone would go who didn’t want the shooting to get back to the police. Brad would be persona non grata there, but he could get Ryan to do it, if he grunged down a bit.
“With four or more shooters, we’re probably not looking at vigilante,” Brad said. “Why not take the drugs?”
“To make a statement? Punishment?” Jerry suggested. “But damn, they wouldn’t leave a million dollars, so why leave a million in drugs?”
Brad had no answer. Kane Rogan had said the hit was retaliation. But for what? And how had Rogan learned about it only hours after it went down?
Ryan approached them. “Almost a complete waste of the last three hours.”