A second suspect recently pleaded not guilty to multiple murder and illegal gun charges in what the county sheriff called a “cartel-like” slaying of multiple family members on Jan. 16 in the small central California area of Goshen.
Angel “Nanu” Uriarte, a 35-year-old from Goshen; and Noah Beard, a 25-year-old from Visalia, were arrested Feb. 3. Beard pleaded not guilty five days later.
Uriarte was wounded during his arrest after engaging in gunfire with a federal agent and was hospitalized. He pleaded not guilty Feb. 21 on six counts of murder and firearms possession.
Both suspects were charged with six counts of murder and numerous other special circumstance allegations that included illegal firearms possession and committing the murders to further the activities of a criminal street gang, according to the county’s district attorney.
The early morning massacre of six people—including a teen mother and her 10-month-old baby—rattled the small community about an hour and half north of Bakersfield. The motive is still not clear, according to the sheriff’s department.
“None of this was by accident. It was intentional,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said in a Jan. 17 press conference.
Some of the slain family members were affiliated with the Sureño gang. Beard is a Norteños gang member, one of its rivals.
The massacre of an entire family goes above and beyond usual gang rival behavior, leading the sheriff to conclude it was a “high-level gang style” shooting, he said.
The Norteños and Sureño gangs are known to distribute methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin smuggled into California from Mexico, according to the Department of Justice.
“Not only is it shocking for a small farming community of something like this to take place, it’s shocking to our county and shocking to the city,” Boudreaux said.
Sheriff’s deputies visited the slain family’s home two weeks before the shooting to check on residents who were on parole for felony convictions, according to Boudreaux.
During the checks, authorities found shotgun casings outside the home, ammunition, illegal firearms, and a rifle.
“This type of activity in this home was known to us,” the sheriff said.
The released video shows a teenage mother fleeing a backyard with her 10-month-old baby during the shooting. In the video, she can be seen placing the baby over a tall fence and climbing over it to the street.
She was followed by one of the suspects and killed.
Investigators said Beard was suspected of shooting the girl and her baby both in the back of the head, Lt. Steve Sanchez told reporters Feb. 3.
Both suspects will be tried together, a spokesman for the county district attorney’s office told The Epoch Times. A preliminary hearing conference is set for March 15 and a hearing is scheduled for March 20.
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said he may ask for the death penalty in both cases.
“I’ve made my views on capital punishment clear time and time again,” he said in a statement. “We reserve this monumental decision for the worst of the worst.”
According to Ward, the sheriff has asked the governor to revisit the state’s death penalty moratorium. In 2019, Newsom signed an executive order halting it.
