San Bernardino PD asking for help solving 5 murders, possibly connected and gang-related

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- San Bernardino police are hoping the release of new surveillance video will help them solve a series of shootings on the city's west side.

The four incidents left five people dead including a baby girl. Detectives say they have physical evidence to suggest the incidents are connected, and likely gang related.

"They're very close to each other, a couple miles apart," said Sgt. Al Tello with San Bernardino police. "It's the west side of our city, in a high gang area."

The first shooting happened Aug. 17, 2019 in a parking lot near 30th and Flores streets.

Police say surveillance video shows a white sedan pulling into the parking lot before the suspect gets out, walks up to another car parked in the same lot and fires into the driver's side window. The victim was identified as 25-year old Nancy Magana, a middle-school teacher, who was sitting in the vehicle with her boyfriend and 5-year old son when it happened.

"No words were exchanged between Magana and (the people in) that vehicle," Tello said. "Someone walked up from that car and opened fire on the driver's side striking her.

"(It was) no fault of her own; she was just sitting there with her boyfriend."

The second incident was a car-to-car shooting that happened on Sept. 14, 2019 near Cajon Boulevard and Darby Street. Surveillance video shows the suspects in a silver sedan speeding through a neighborhood after the incident. Another camera recorded video of the victim's vehicle as it crashed after the driver was shot. The driver did survive, but his baby girl died in the crash.

In January, police responded to two other shootings with fatalities that they believe to be connected.

On Jan. 19, 2020, they found a shooting victim down in the middle of the road near Meridian Avenue and Spruce Street. That victim later died in the hospital. Another victim who showed up at the hospital was treated and released.

On Jan. 21, 2020, two more victims were found with gunshot wounds near the intersection of Hanford Street and Grand Avenue. Both of them were pronounced dead at the scene.

"We think that just a few people coming forward can help us solve quite a few of these incidents," said Chief Eric McBride.

He said the police department restructured last year to involve what he called community policing. He said the move helped improve the rate at which they solve homicides.

"There are people who saw these homicides, saw these shootings, saw what happened," said McBride.

"We need those people to come forward."