Two suspected gang members arrested in Oceanside Harbor bat assaults (original) (raw)

Two suspected gang members have been arrested on suspicion of attacking random passers-by with baseball bats last month alongside Oceanside Harbor, police said Wednesday.

Detectives investigating the assaults arrested the pair, a 21-year-old Oceanside man and a 20-year-old Vista man, on Tuesday, according to Oceanside police. They were booked into county jail in Vista on suspicion of numerous charges, including attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, taking part in gang crimes and probation violations.

Investigators also identified three additional suspects and were working to locate them, police said.

Police said the crime appears to have been gang-motivated.

The group allegedly attacked two people on North Harbor Drive shortly before 9 p.m. on Aug. 17, then fled the area in a vehicle, according to police. The victims were hospitalized with head trauma.

Witnesses reported that the masked assailants appeared to be indiscriminately attacking people who happened by. The perpetrators also confronted a bystander and tried to steal her cellphone, which she had been using to record video of the violence, police said.

A short time after receiving the assault report, the police got information about two people who were being treated for similar injuries at Tri-City Medical Center. Though apparently not associated with the other victims, they had been assaulted in the same area and manner, evidently by the same attackers, police said.

The victims suffered injuries of varying degrees of severity, including head lacerations, and one was left with a facial fracture, according police.

The suspects were being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Thursday afternoon.