Two Gang Members Arrested For California Massacre In Which 10-Month-Old Was Shot

Authorities announced Friday that two arrests were made in the massacre of a California family that claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl and her 10-month-old infant, among others.

Angel Uriarte, 35, and Noah Beard, 25, were arrested during pre-dawn Friday raids in Goshen and nearby Visalia, California — about 35 miles southeast of Fresno — respectively, the Tulare County Sheriffs Office announced in a press conference. 

“Beard was taken into custody without incident," Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said on Friday afternoon. "Uriade, on the other hand, engaged in a gun battle with ATF agents. He was struck and rushed to a nearby hospital and is currently undergoing surgery. He is in stable condition and expected to survive.”

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Jail records reviewed by Oxygen.com on Monday indicate that Uriade is still recovering from his injuries. Beard is currently being held without bond.

Police and prosecutors believe that the two are responsible for the massacre in Goshen that killed five members of the Parraz family — Eladio, 52; Marcos, 19; Rosa , 72; Alissa, 16; and Nycholas, 10 months — along with Jennifer Analla, 49, around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 16. They said on Friday that another, unnamed man on the property was also shot in the stomach that night but survived.

Noah Beard Photo: Tulare County Sheriff's Office

Boudreaux stated that investigators believe the massacre was part of a larger feud between the Norteño gang, which is more dominant in the area, and the rival Sureño gang, but don't yet have a specific motive in the massacre. The names denote the areas of California from which members hail: Norteños are affiliated with the larger Nuestro Familia gang, while Sureños are affiliated with the Mexican mafia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

"The two members of the Parraz family, the victims’ family, were well known, validated Sureños gang members in Goshen, which is predominately held by the Norteño gang," he stated. "The two suspects arrested today are validated Norteños."

Police allege that the first victim was the unnamed man who was shot in the stomach while standing in the doorway of a trailer at the end of the property, the sheriff said. He'd previously stated that the suspects never entered the trailer, as Oxygen.com previously reported, and said on Friday that the 911 call came from one of two women who hid in it after the first shots were fired. One of those women was reportedly the shooting survivor's girlfriend.

Then, according to Boudreaux, police believe that Beard and Uriarte entered the house, displaying surveillance video from around the property at Friday's press conference that shows two visibly armed men in various places around the property.

A poster of the victims of the Goshen homicides is displayed at the press conference. Photo: Getty Images

They believe that one of the men first shot Eladio in the torso and chest, killing him. Marcos was then shot in the head, followed by Analla, who was shot in the head in her bed while she slept. Rosa, police believe, got up to investigate the commotion and was shot in the head while on her knees in her bedroom.

In the midst of the shootings, Elyssa grabbed her child, Nycholas, and ran out the front door of the home. Surveillance video played at Friday's press conference shows a small female figure running towards the street along a driveway with a tall picket fence separating her from a neighboring property and a metal rolling gate between the driveway and the street.

The girl leans up over the fence and places the infant on the other side of it, then scales the driveway gate, reaching the street just as a gunman comes into view.

Police said at the press conference that they believe the gunman was Beard, and that he shot first Elyssa and then Nycholas in the backs of their heads and left their bodies in the street.

First responders reached the home seven minutes after the 911 call began, but the suspects had already left.

Around 6 a.m. on Friday, police, federal agents, local jail and California prison officials conducted multiple searches and arrested Beard and Uriarte. They also searched a third property as well as eight cells in six different prisons involving 16 inmates affiliated with Nuestra Familia/Norteños members, as well as a number of inmates and cells in local jails.

Authorities named the morning "Operation Nightmare."

Federal officials announced they intended to seek other charges against Uriarte for allegedly firing on federal agents, though none were reported injured.

Currently, Uriarte faces one charge of homicide and Beard faces one charge of homicide, two other unspecified charges, one drug charge and one weapons charge, according to jail records reviewed by Oxygen.com. Prosecutors emphasized at Friday's press conference that neither suspect was legally allowed to own a firearm and that multiple weapons were recovered in the searches.

More charges are expected in the case. Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward has not stated whether his office intends to seek the death penalty in the case. There has been a moratorium on executions in place since March 2019, and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that he would dismantle the state's remaining death row and transfer all prisoners sentenced to death elsewhere by 2025. 

California hasn't conducted an execution since 2006.