JOSE GASPAR: Goshen, so much like rural Kern, feels impact of mass shooting | Jose Gaspar

No one I spoke to remembers something this horrendous ever happening in their town. Who could do such a thing? But about 90 percent of the residents I spoke with did not want to speak publicly about it, deflecting my questions with answers such as “I’ve got to take my cat to the vet before he closes,” or a couple walking down Harvest Avenue who promised they would talk to me on their way back from visiting a relative. Words weren’t really necessary, however. I could tell by their body language, minimal eye-contact and few words that they preferred to stay silent.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux pins the murders as related to drug activity, and the murderers are most likely gang members. He isn’t ruling out cartel activity. Not exactly the sort of news that makes residents here want to espouse their views publicly. But the fear here is real and its impact has not gone unnoticed.

“There’s a lot less kids walking to school,” said a man named Bryan who has worked in Goshen for 11 years. He did not want to give his last name. “Before this incident the streets were packed every morning with kids walking to Goshen School, everybody laughing. Now there’s 90 percent less kids on the street,” he said. And yes, the family massacre was horrific, but it was an anomaly, Bryan said.

“I would say 90 percent of the people that live in this town are hard-working families, and then you have your bad ones like any other town,” he said.

As U.S. Census Bureau stats reveal, Goshen is so much like Kern County’s own rural communities, with a 42 percent poverty rate, 33 percent of residents here have a high school diploma and unemployment is usually above the state and national rates. It’s certainly no secret Kern County also has its share of gang and drug activity, and worse. We have the dubious distinction of having the highest homicide rate in the state in 2021, per capita with 13.7 killings per 100,000 people. Merced County is second, at 9.5, followed by Tulare at 8.8 per 100,000 people. Statewide, the homicide rate was 6. And it’s been that way for years. These figures are from a report last year from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Though the killings happened Jan. 16, two Tulare County sheriff’s patrol cars are still parked right in front of the home on Harvest Avenue. The street is blocked off, with flowers and a candle off to one side in memory of the victims. It’s a reminder of a tragedy in a small town. Linares recalls a very different community when she arrived here some 40 years ago from Michoacan, Mexico.

“You could walk around at midnight or at all hours and there wasn’t one single gang member. It was peaceful,” she said. “Then people from the outside started moving and everything went to hell.”

Though she personally did not know all of the victims, she cried when she heard about the killings. “One of my grandsons said, ‘Abuelita, why are you crying?’ I told him, ‘It’s an injustice what they’ve done!’ Don’t any of you get into drugs!”

Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a news anchor/reporter for Telemundo Bakersfield and KGET. Email him at [email protected] The views expressed here are his own.