More Gang Violence: Teen Stabbed Sunday

Three young men attacked a 17-year-old boy near downtown Sunday evening, marking the third gang assault in two days in the city, police reported.

The teen was stabbed once in the upper right ribs. He was flown to a trauma center and was alive Monday, but his condition was not immediately available, police said.

several times in a trailer park at 501 S. Green Valley Rd. early Saturday. Less than 24 hours later, by gang members who crashed a party in an apartment at 222 Clifford Ave. Police suspect the shooting was payback for the stabbing.

On Monday morning, police Sgt. Saul Gonzalez said investigators don't believe Sunday's stabbing is connected to the earlier violence.

The Sunday attack happened on the 100 block of Second Street around 7 p.m.

Police said three Latino men in their late teens or early 20s went up to the boy, then one pulled a knife and yelled gang slurs at him. It turned physical, and, during the fight, the boy was stabbed, police said.

The three attackers fled, possibly in a gray sedan, police reported. A be-on-the-lookout alert was broadcast to other and law enforcement officers across the region, but the car was not found.

Police also said the boy who was stabbed has been "less than forthcoming" about the attack.

Detectives worked a long day Sunday investigating the deadly party shooting, but so far no arrests have been made in any of the weekend's gang attacks. Gonzalez said the investigation was "slow."

Police ask anyone with information about the gang violence call the Investigations Bureau at 831-768-3350 or the anonymous tip line at 831-768-3544.

The shooting was the city's second homicide of the year. Jose Alfredo Coronel, 32, was stabbed to death on Jan. 2. That attack also was gang-related and remains unsolved.

In 2010, there was one murder in Watsonville: the gunshot slaying of a shopkeeper during an Oct. 19, armed robbery. Christian Speaker, 17, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder for allegedly killing Yahya Ahmed, 32, at Fiesta Latina Market, a store Ahmed owned on East Beach Street.

This article will be updated.