Mojave reels from mass shooting that left 4 dead; no arrests made

“It’s really hurting us,” Hayden, a resident of 17 years, said Monday. “I’ve talked to everyone, in the grocery stores they’re talking about it, everyone at the Family Dollar, and even when I went to the gas station.”

According to a KCSO statement released Monday, deputies received a call at 11:21 p.m. Sunday regarding three people who were shot in a "violent assault" in the 15900 block of H Street in Mojave, 60 miles southeast of Bakersfield, in an abandoned lot that flanks the train tracks.

Authorities found four victims, three women and one man, with gunshot wounds. Three were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fourth, one of the women, was taken to Antelope Valley Medical Center in Lancaster, where she was pronounced dead.

"KCSO homicide detectives are pursuing all investigative leads to identify and arrest the suspect(s) responsible for this crime," KCSO said in a statement.

As the news traveled through town, largely through the online Mojave bulletin, residents periodically trickled in, driving up the street and staring at the gunshot-riddled RV before turning around to leave. Around the RV, wind-burned detritus lay about in confused array.

“There’s going to be a lot more people that come by,” Hayden said. “People are still getting the news.”

The Kern County Coroner's Office has yet to release the names of the victims, as next-of-kin must be notified. No weapons were found at the scene and no arrests had been made by Monday evening, as authorities said homicide detectives' investigation was ongoing.

Hayden said she knew three of the victims for years, and all have several children they will leave behind.

She believes the three had ongoing drug abuse issues with crystal meth, and often congregated at the RV to dose. At least two other people, she said, were also homeless and lived in an RV by a liquor store on K Street.

“This is a part of drugs, it’s sad to say,” Hayden said. “We need help in Mojave, seriously.”

Hayden is a member of Mothers of Mojave, a local youth outreach group. A big task they fix themselves with is redirecting kids’ attention from drugs and onto something productive.

They’re often unsuccessful, she said.

“Kids that are growing up out here are starting to get on this stuff… I’ve seen kids graduate and just go straight down,” Hayden said. “...They need some type of guidance out here.”

Ted Hodgkinson, 75, the president of the Mojave Chamber of Commerce who has lived in the town since 1954, said, "I have never experienced anything like this.”

“We are devastated. We have lost four people," he said.

Hodgkinson said he and others are feeling a gamut of emotions — everything from worry to irritation. He worries for the residents who knew the victims, which is likely a lot in a town of what he believes is now about 5,000 people. (The latest Census figures put the number at about 3,600.) And the unknown — was this a burglary, drugs, something else? — is difficult.

"You never know anymore," said Hodgkinson, who has also served as a Mojave Unified School District board member and said he will be doing so again after the death of another board member. "Someone loses it for whatever reason."

KCSO public information officer Lori Meza said Monday morning that depending on what additional information detectives were able to uncover in the intervening hours, the office might hold a news conference later Monday to solicit help from the public. Later in the day KCSO issued a news release seeking the public's help with any information.

Meza noted there was interest from national news media.

Indeed, a mass shooting database created by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University says this is the 19th mass killing in the United States this year. A mass killing is one in which four or more people, not counting the suspect, are killed.

The crimes shake communities, just as it has in Mojave.

"We never had anything like that," said Bill Deaver, 87, of Tehachapi, who is on the board of the Mojave Chamber of Commerce and had lived in the town on and off since 1948.

"There's never been a multiple homicide in Mojave that I can recall," said Deaver, who described the neighborhood where the killings happened as "quiet," with the particular block being low-income.

Deaver said the shooting happened in a neighborhood that is in the oldest part of Mojave, built by the railroad in 1876.

The biggest enterprise in the mayor-less town, is the Mojave Air & Space Port. Nearby hills are tacked with windmills, and both motels and fast food restaurants dominate the main strip.

Sammy Barbic, president of Mothers of Mojave and a friend of two of the victims, said the crime was indicative of an area with sparse opportunity, where jet planes are more common than job postings.

For kids who graduate from high school, options are limited for a hometown career, aside from a service job — food prep or cashier — at Edwards Air Force Base. 

“I worked on base for three years,” Barbic said. “I made about $14.75 an hour… you can’t find good jobs here.”

When asked why she thinks the shooting occurred, she was blunt.

“Honestly, I think it was out of boredom,” Barbic said. “I’m not trying to negate the fact of what’s going on, but there’s nothing to do out here, and that affects people.”

Barbic said that "everyone" — including the California City Police Department — knows who has been committing crimes in Mojave. Why nothing has been done is at the heart of the community’s greatest issues, she said.

Given the proximity of Mojave to California City, residents in Mojave rely on a lot of leadership and services from their neighbor.

“They’re (California City) allocating a $600,000 golf clubhouse, but the kids don’t have an after-school program… They have principals and vice-principals teaching the classes,” Barbic said.

And while Hayden believes drugs are a steady issue in Mojave, crimes like this are not. For now, she’s pulled her grandkids out of school.

“This guy should be caught already,” Hayden said. “I just hope they find him because this community will come after him.”

KCSO asks that anyone with information call 661-861-3110 or Secret Witness at 661-322-4040.

Executive Editor Christine L. Peterson and staff writer Henry Greenstein contributed to this report.