Two teens were transported to separate hospitals Sunday after they were found shot in their vehicle in Hanford, according to the Hanford Police Department.Â
According to police, officers were dispatched at about 10:15 p.m. Sunday to calls of a stranded vehicle in the middle of the road going southbound on 11th Avenue and Davis Street. Lt. James Lutz, public information officer, said officers were informed that the people inside the car had been shot and went to assist.
The officers found the driver, 18, and his passenger, 17, suffering from gun shot wounds. The driver had been shot three times in the torso and upper body, and was airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. As of press time, he was in critical condition. The passenger was transported to Kaweah Delta Medical Center in Visalia and is in stable condition.Â
A decorated deputy with the Tulare County Sheriffâs Office has been arrested on suspicion of rape by Hanford Police, according to police officials.
Deputy Luis Araujo, who was arrested on Tuesday, received the Officer of the Year award from the Knights of Columbus in 2020 for work he did while serving at the Visalia substation.Â
Araujo is the second Officer of the Year recipient to be arrested in Hanford in the last two weeks. Last week, Visalia Police detective Samantha Adney was arrested on domestic abuse and DUI charges. Adney received the award in April.
According to Lt. James Lutz, public information officer with the Hanford Police, itâs the departmentâs policy not to divulge details in domestic abuse cases.
Hundreds of pounds of illegally grown marijuana were discovered in a search by the Hanford Police Department, with potentially thousands of pounds more being cultivated, authorities said Friday.
Police executed a search warrant at 7 a.m. on Wednesday in the 900 block of East Myrtle Street following a âlengthyâ investigation. During the search, police say they located 3,446 marijuana plants and roughly 320 pounds of processed marijuana in 55-gallon plastic bags.
The interior of the building had been gutted and had illegal electrical connections, along with several ventilation units installed, according to authorities. Both the interior and the exterior of the residence were being used to process the marijuana.
While the motive behind the fire that heavily damaged the Taoist Temple Museum is still being investigated, authorities said Wednesday that anti-Asian sentiment does not seem to be a factor.
Suspect Maxine Montenegroâs reasons were probably not motivated by race, said Lt. James Lutz, public information officer for the Hanford Police Department. Lutz added that Montenegro, a transient, appears to have issues regarding substance abuse and mental health.
âWe have a lot of transients in that area in the evening,â Lutz said. âItâs kind of a throughway for the homeless.â
Montenegro was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the China Alley fire that took place on the night of May 12. The fire almost completely consumed the stairway leading to the altar room and destroyed many of the artifacts inside â artifacts that the museumâs director, Arianne Wing, said are priceless. Damage is estimated at around $500,000.
Hanford Police have arrested 37-year-old Maxine Montenegro, a transient, in connection with the fire that nearly destroyed the Taoist Temple and Museum in China Alley.
On the night of May 12, a fire broke out at the historic wooden building, which dates back to the late 1870s, almost completely destroying the staircase and many of the artifacts inside.
An arson investigation began on the morning of May 13, with video camera surveillance capturing a woman lighting a fire at the temple site using what appears to be clothing, according to the Hanford Police Department.
Based on her appearance, detectives believed the woman was a transient, according to police. Detectives, with help from officers assigned to the HART Team (Homeless Assistance and Resource Team), spoke with transients that frequented the area and said they were able to identify the woman as Montenegro.