Goshen shooting: Police hunt for suspects after massacre of family, including baby

Officers are looking at the possibility that drugs may have been a motive for the murders in California

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in Visalia, Calif. , about the victims from a shooting the before that left six people dead in Goshen. (Ron Holman / The Times-Delta via AP)

The shooting took place on Monday in a Central Valley farming community

Police believe the killings may have been carried out by a drug cartel

A Tulare County Sheriff's deputy cordons off a road near the scene of the crime

Investigators said it appeared that some of the victims were from the same family

Most of the victims were shot in the head, including the baby

Police in California are searching for suspects following what has been described as a cartel-linked massacre of an entire family, including a 10-month-old baby and a 72-year-old woman, plus four others.

The murders, thought to have been carried out at around 4am on Tuesday, occurred in Goshen, a small agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley, and have been described by police as a professional, assassination-style attack, which left a trail of destruction around the small farm.

Police raided the property last week searching for drugs, which has led them to suspect a narcotics trade dispute may have been a motivating factor, although they described the killings as senseless and highlighting the innocence of the youngest and oldest victims.

"I am not eliminating that possibility," sheriff Mike Boudreaux said, responding to questions from journalists about potential links to the drug trade. He said the shootings were "similar to high-ranking gang executions, and the style of execution they commit".

"These people were clearly shot in the head and they were also shot in places where the gunman would know that a quick death would occur,” he said.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the suspects' arrests.

Samuel Pina, a relative of the deceased, said his granddaughter, 16-year-old Alissa Parraz, and her 10-month-old baby, Nycholas Nolan Parraz, were among those killed.