SALINAS, Calif.- A Salinas man shot to death on Wednesday night in the 300 block of North Main Street is now being idetified. Police said 22-year-old Richard Pimentel was shot in the back of the head in front of the Salvation Army. The suspect is still on the loose and this marks the city's 15th homicide.
It's violent crimes like these police are trying to tackle. So we decided to find out how these shootings affect people who aren't even directly involved. About an hour after Wednesday's deadly shooting on North Main, we spoke with a young man who said he was working out at the gym right across the street from the crime scene.
"I mean it never changes, doesn't get any better, just gotta get used to it," said Andrew Fuentes.
It's that the kind of response Monterey County crisis counselors said they're worried about.
"You know they're still humans, people killing people and its not just bad guys that are getting killed, there are a lot of innocent people that get caught in the crossfire," said Monterey County behavioral health unit supervisor Devon Corpus.
Corpus said everyone reacts to violent crime differently depending on their exposure to it. But in Salinas, a lot of people consistently worry and try to avoid it.
"Seems to be so much, there isn't a whole lot of places you can go. You'd have to be posted up in your house forever and I don't want to do that," said Sheridan Watson, a customer shopping at the Salvation Army on Thursday.
A Salvation Army worker who said he can't talk on camera said when he saw a man lying on the sidewalk in front of the building in a pool of blood, he called 911. But he wasn't surprised it happened. The question is how desensitized is our community to violent crime? Police said it's too early to say if last night's case is gang related. But Corpus said violence like this can be considered domestic terrorism.
"Folks from an individual, family or community level can develop post traumatic stress disorder symptoms and they're hyper vigilant, maybe they're always looking around them," Corpus said.
Corpus said being vigilant is good. But if you have anxiety about crime in your neighborhood, it's important to get help. If at any time you need to talk with someone about the violence you've seen, you can call the Monterey County Department of Behavioral Health's crisis line at 831-755-4111.
