ABC news USA has this awful story…..
Detectives are investigating what prompted the Labor Day killings of seven people at an illegal marijuana growing operation in a rural Southern California community known for horse ranches and plant nurseries along dirt roads
AGUANGA, Calif. — Detectives on Tuesday investigated what prompted the Labor Day killings of seven people at an illegal marijuana growing operation in a small, rural Southern California community known for horse ranches and plant nurseries along dirt roads.
The fatal shootings in Aguanga, north of San Diego, represent the latest flashpoint in the violence that often permeates California’s illegal marijuana market.
The state broadly legalized recreational marijuana sales in January 2018 but the illicit market is thriving — in part because hefty legal marijuana taxes send consumers looking for better deals in the illegal economy.
Before dawn Monday, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at an Aguanga home. They found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds who later died at a hospital, according to a sheriff’s department statement.
The deputies discovered six more dead people at the house that “was being used to manufacture and harvest an illicit marijuana operation,” the statement said.
Investigators seized more than 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of marijuana and several hundred marijuana plants.
While officials said they did not immediately find any suspects, the sheriff’s statement called the deaths “an isolated incident” that did not threaten people in Aguanga, population about 2,000.
“The area is safe and we don’t have any other concerns,” sheriff’s Sgt. Deanna Pecoraro said.
Partially eaten pizza sat in boxes in a circular dirt driveway of the dilapidated two-bedroom house where the shootings occurred. Three cars were parked outside — one with its front doors open.
Cases of bottled water were stacked on the front porch, which was strewn with clothing and plastic bags. A black tarp was stretched atop poles in the fenced backyard, indicating a small growing operation. Unlike many neighboring homes, it had neither a gate nor a “no trespassing” sign at the entrance.
The sheriff’s department declined to give additional details, but officials planned an afternoon news conference.
Read more at. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fatally-shot-illegal-california-marijuana-growing-site-72877189
