By MADDIE KIRKMAN
Staff Writer
On May 5, 2020, three young, innocent teenagers were shot in the Golden West parking lot. These three people were Jose Hernandez-Peña who was 19, Isaiah Rule who was 18, and Blake Medeiros who was 19. Their case was left unsolved for almost 2 years, but on January 13, 2022, Mark Aceves, 20, Cesar Lopez, 19, and Abraham Molino, 20, were charged with three counts of first-degree murder with the death penalty on the table. These three individuals were gang members who were part of the Sureños. Nikkole Rule-Balderrama, Isaiah Rule’s mother, spoke out and announced that she not only wants them to be in custody, but she wants them to stay behind bars for the rest of their lives. She further spoke out and said, “Your life’s gone just like you took my son’s life, now your life is gonna be gone too”. Not only was this case finally solved, but it also opened the door to solve another horrible issue. While police were solving this case, they also discovered a multinational drug and firearm conspiracy stretching from the Central Valley all the way to Texas and Mexico. Police have arrested over 30 people.