‘Armando Salgado was murdered in cold blood': 3 convicted of beating SJ inmate to death
The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office on Thursday said 49-year-old inmate Armando Salgado was 'viciously' targeted on June 24, 2021, as he entered the Honor Farm facility.
'Armando Salgado was murdered in cold blood, and that's something we'll never accept,' San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Salgado had no gang affiliations, but three inmates had confronted him and demanded to know his gang ties. They tore off Salgado's shirt to check for tattoos and when he remained silent, they began punching, stabbing and stomping him until he lost consciousness, prosecutors said.
The gang members then dragged Salgado to the barracks bathroom, where they beat and drowned him.
At the time of the Salgado's death, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office identified his killers as 21-year-old Joseph Corral, 22-year-old Nathan Oliveridoan and 22-year-old Angelo Velasquez.
According to a news conference held the day following the death, Salgado was found at about 10 p.m. on June 24, 2021, by a correctional officer in the bathroom of the building where he was being housed.
Salgado had only transferred to the facility from the main jail an hour prior to the attack.
San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said that it had been the worst known attack at the low-level security facility to date.
"We've never had a violent murder like this at our Honor Farm," he said at the news conference.
Salgado had been housed in a barrack designated for quarantining at the Honor Farm, Withrow said, where he was supposed to quarantine for two weeks as a COVID-19 precaution before being allowed into the facility's other housing units.
The victim was described by authorities as a low-risk inmate who did not have "some type of high profile that might bring attention to him or cause this type of incident."
This article originally appeared on The Record: 3 Norteño gang members convicted of killing San Joaquin County inmate
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
20 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Gun threats, bathroom fights, community outrage: Why school safety is becoming a big deal
There was a hush in the room as Manhattan Beach Middle School teacher Elizabeth Laffoon approached the podium in the crowded MBUSD board room in March. Students, parents and educators filled every seat — and hundreds more attended on Zoom — ready to express outrage over how the district had handled an incident in which a student brought a gun to the school the week before. They questioned why the district failed to communicate the incident to families immediately and voiced distrust over the administration's ability to handle future dangerous situations. An investigation had been initiated, but the community was frustrated because no lockdown occurred, and families and staff were not notified until that night. 'Children talk. Rumors and stories spread like wildfire. I didn't know what to believe,' Laffoon said as she stood at the podium and read from a statement written by a MBMS student. 'To think that such an incident would occur is utterly horrifying.' Though school violence had been on a downward trajectory across California the two decades prior to the pandemic, conversations over school safety have taken center spotlight over the last few years, particularly in several districts across Los Angeles County. Isolation during the pandemic coupled with social media's increased role in fights and instances of violence have helped fuel the problem, according to experts. 'What we cannot do is bury our heads in the sand, and act as if we don't see these things happening and hope that they get better,' UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard said. The COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on social-emotional learning When the pandemic hit in 2020, students across California were forced to transition from in-person schooling to remote learning for more than a year and a half. That transition brought tremendous impacts on children' s psychosocial development, according to child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist Daniel Waldman. During the 2021-22 school year, 87% of public schools reported that the COVID-19 outbreak compromised student socio-emotional development. Since the return to in-person learning in 2022, instances of fighting and physical aggression at LAUSD schools have almost doubled . Four guns were discovered at LAUSD high schools in August, and district data revealed that threats on its campuses increased by 10% between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years. In the Manhattan Beach School District, the percentage of suspensions due to violence with injury and non-injury doubled from 2019 to 2024. This school year alone, the district dealt with numerous fights, the discovery of a handgun on campus and a bomb threat. Nearby Redondo Union High School dealt with two gun threats in December 2023. The percentage of suspensions due to weapons and violence without injury also more than doubled from 2019 to 2024. Students crowd the front gate of Redondo Union High School, trying to leave campus after the administration ended the lockdown in December 2023. (Photo courtesy of Ethan Lerner) All three districts have since orchestrated new safety protocols or wellness programs to help address community concerns. For instance, MBUSD is refining strategies to address student behavior, by updating the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework. It is critical that these efforts are not in vain, because schools do not just help students grow academically but help them learn how to interact with others and build relationships, Howard said. This was impossible while students stared at a computer screen for hours on end, he added. 'Some students missed some of that crucial time to learn about how to develop social skills, how to deal with problem solving, and how to address conflicts with peers,' Howard said. 'Students were not able to capture that in the virtual learning environment because we were so depersonalized.' Young students who missed out on these opportunities to develop interpersonal skills are more likely to develop behavioral issues , demonstrating a greater potential to engage in dangerous activity, according to a BMC Pediatrics study. 'We see that mental health challenges in people have gone up significantly since the pandemic, and it lets you know that learning is going to be compromised,' Howard said. 'Many young people are still dealing with the aftermath today.' Fights, social media and the digital age At Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, a fight broke out between two high school girls in a bathroom located in the locker hallway. As the fight escalated, two more students joined in while bystanders filmed the incident and shared it on Snapchat. Fights are nothing new and have always been an issue at middle and high schools. However, they have become increasingly common in recent years for another important reason: social media, Howard said. 'In my day, when there was a fight, kids would run to try to break it up,' he said. 'Now, at school, all the students have their phones out to record the fight.' Social media is used to publicize violent events, but it can also instigate them. The possibility of creating viral content or getting a multitude of likes encourages people to act out, promoting extremist and dangerous behavior, Howard said. Fights and peer conflict don't just happen on their own. Issues such as bullying or cyber-bullying often build tension between people, leading directly to physical aggression. 'We live in what I call a copycat culture,' Howard said. 'Copycat culture is one where people are trying to see what they can do that mimics other people who get attention and get lots of likes.' This is especially relevant to middle and high school students, who are in the midst of developing their character and discovering who they are, and the person they want to become, said Laffoon, who has watched her students evolve from sixth to eighth graders. She added that interacting with friends and adults, and learning to navigate different situations shapes ones' reputation and self-image. Waldman agreed, adding that middle school students are especially impacted by how their peers view them, as that directly influences how they view themselves. 'One aspect of adolescent development is that teenagers tend to prioritize their peer connections, and they are strongly influenced by their peers,' Waldman said. 'Social media has the potential to ratchet that up because of all the varied things they see kids their age doing online.' How districts are responding Some schools are attempting to resolve the issue by addressing mental health. Districts are implementing new policies and assemblies to spread mental health awareness as data continues to point to a need for such resources. A study from The School Pulse Panel showed that 70% of school districts in the United States had an increase in the number of students seeking mental health referrals since 2020. 'We have to do a better job at having more counselors, psychologists, and therapists on our campuses,' Howard said. 'Young people who initiate violence often engage because they have been on the receiving end of some kind of violence at school or at home.' There isn't one simple solution to school violence, but schools and families can take small steps to help prevent it from increasing and continuing to threaten the safety of students and staff, Howard said. Redondo Union High School experimented with one potential solution after two students brought weapons to school in 2023. The school closed campus the following day and began new security measures, including walk-through metal detectors and bag searches at every entrance. 'This was something we went through but shouldn't have had to in any world,' said Katy Otey, a recent graduate of Redondo Union. 'The security system was necessary no matter how annoying.' Otey said metal detectors helped reassure many worried students and parents but caused some students to be more than 90 minutes late to class. She said schools need to consider less extreme, more realistic solutions. In LAUSD, the presence of school police is a proposed solution to decrease campus violence. In 2020, the district removed police from school campuses and cut the department's budget by 35%. Parents, students and teachers have clashed over whether police presence on campus makes students feel safe or unsafe . LAUSD is also in the process of implementing improved surveillance systems to enhance security and supervision. MBUSD has taken some steps after the events that transpired at MBMS and Mira Costa High School this year. The MBUSD administration is organizing a districtwide safety training in August for all school employees. The development of new activities related to the Anti-Defamation League's 'No Place for Hate' program are also underway, along with updates to safety and communication protocols. After the gun incident in March, MBUSD has made efforts to enhance security and increase response training. The district hired three outside entities to help refine school safety measures, outline school safety plans, and organize emergency training sessions. Laffoon believes the district has made significant progress, but that there is still room for change and improvement to be made. 'We got lucky that nothing [happened] in terms of harm to anyone, physically,' Laffoon said. 'There was harm done emotionally. The student, his family, his teachers, the students on campus, and the community…it impacts everyone.' Elizabeth Laffoon speaks out during a school board meeting on March 26, 2025. She addresses the school board with dozens of community members in attendance in the MBUSD board room. Related
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Deportations are taking a toll on California's economy - and have only just begun
ICE raids and mass deportations could cost California $275 billion in lost wages and other funds, a report finds. Lupe Lopez can't help but notice that business and foot traffic are painfully slow these days in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of East San Jose, California. "A lot more people are either staying closer to home or not coming out at all," said Lopez, 69, whose family owns nine Arteagas Food Center supermarkets, one of which is in East San Jose. Young people are buying in bulk, she said, because their parents are afraid of being outside, where they might be picked up by immigration agents. "We're seeing a change in shopping habits," said Lopez, co-founder of Avanzando, a nonprofit helping Latinos make advances through education. Even as the Trump administration prepares to ramp up its immigration enforcement nationwide, the focus so far in California has already hurt local economies, research and anecdotal reports suggest. One recent study estimated that the hit to California, the world's fourth-largest economy, could be as much as $275 billion. "It's a pretty massive amount that even took us by surprise," said Bay Area Council Economic Institute Research Director Abby Raisz, author of the nonprofit's June report. "We anticipated it would be big, but we didn't realize how expansive and significant a role undocumented workers play in sustaining California's economy. It's bigger than we thought." Immigration raids led to drop in California's workforce Since the report's release, the Trump administration has expanded immigration raids to include many more people without criminal records. The Department of Homeland Security said nearly 2,800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in Greater Los Angeles. Local media reported that many were between June 6 and 22. The raids had a dramatic and immediate impact on the workforce. Almost 465,000 California workers fled from the labor ranks during the week of June 8, as immigration authorities raided worksites across the Los Angeles area, according to a July University of California, Merced study. As a result, people working in private-sector jobs in California dropped by 3.1%, a decline not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic, the study noted, though it's unclear whether they left permanently or just for a short time. California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said immigrants are the backbone of the state's economic workforce. "They are the workers who feed us, the caretakers who support us, the entrepreneurs who drive innovation, and the neighbors who strengthen our communities," Kounalakis said in a statement. "The ripple effects of mass deportation in California would be felt nationwide and beyond." "Carry your papers": The Trump administration is telling immigrants 'Carry your papers.' Here's what to know. Report: Undocumented workers' imprint cannot be underestimated Of California's 10.6 million immigrants, 2.3 million are undocumented, according to Pew Research Center. They account for 8% of all workers statewide. Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be in the workforce than Californians born in the United States, Bay Area Council's Raisz said, with 72% of undocumented immigrants participating in the workforce compared to about 67% of native-born. Immigrants are widespread, but concentrated in certain fields and geographic areas. More than 60% of California's agricultural workers are immigrants and almost 26% are undocumented; about 41% of the state's construction workers are immigrants and 14% are undocumented, Raisz' report found. Those workers are concentrated in coastal urban areas in the Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles, as well as in agricultural hubs in the Central Valley. "These regions are critical drivers of California's economy and understanding the potential impact of deportation on local, state, and national economies has never been more critical," the report said. And even these high figures are probably an undercount, said Darlene Tenes, the executive director of Farmworker Caravan, a San Jose-based nonprofit assisting area farmworkers with some basic needs. "It's very, very difficult to document the undocumented. They are very much a shadow community," Tenes told USA TODAY. "I think it's hard to put a number on it. You have to understand, almost every industry in California uses undocumented workers." Crossroads: Farmers are facing a fork on Trump's immigration highway. So what's next? Undocumented workers' impact on agriculture, construction Raisz said her report shows how entrenched undocumented immigrants are in California and how much they contribute to their communities. "About two-thirds of them have lived here for more than a decade, and about a third own their own homes, so they pay both income and property taxes," Raisz said. Without undocumented labor, GDP generated by California's agriculture would decline by 14%, Raisz said, and the state's construction industry would see a 16% decrease. Both sectors were already experiencing labor shortages, he said, which will only be compounded by immigration crackdowns. Tenes said Americans and some parts of the world won't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables without undocumented workers, as California's coastal counties and Central Valley are consistently among the largest agricultural producers in the nation. 'Cost burdened': America's housing is pulling further out of reach, report finds "Without (undocumented workers), we don't eat, period," Tenes said. "Everything that you eat from a grocery store, strawberries, grapes, lettuce, bread, cereal, all came from the ground at some point. Guess who picks them?" About half of the nation's 4.3 million construction workers are Hispanic and as many as 1 million of them are undocumented, according to George Carillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council. Thousands of those workers are in California and will be needed as the nation faces a housing shortage of around 4.5 million homes and Los Angeles recovers from this year's deadly wildfires, Carillo said. "Who do you think is going to help rebuild those homes that were lost?" Carillo said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Here's what police say happened the night of a 19-year-old's murder
Here's what San Angelo police say happened the night of the murder of 19-year-old Joe Angel Martinez III in San Angelo, according to allegations in a police complaint. Officers with the San Angelo Police Department arrested and charged Justin Ramirez, 17, Davon Lewis, 17, and a 16-year-old juvenile male in connection with the killing that happened July 23. Ramirez was being held Tuesday in the Tom Green County Jail on a $150,000 bond for a murder charge, online jail records show. Lewis was not in the custody of the local jail on Tuesday, according to the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office. Documents regarding the 16-year-old's arrest are not publicly available since he is a juvenile. Murder is a first degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison. Anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. According to a police complaint against Ramirez, San Angelo police Sgt. Keith Lane responded to Roosevelt Street and Rio Concho Drive to investigate a report of a gunshot victim in a vehicle that collided with a masonry mailbox July 23. The victim, Martinez, was transported to Shannon Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Lane spoke with the victim's dad and was able to track his location leading up to the incident using Life 360 software on the victim's phone. It showed that Martinez traveled to the River Pointe Apartments. An apartment staff member was able to retrieve video from the incident. Police reviewed the video and saw three people approach Martinez while he was sitting in his car, according to allegations in the complaint. In video footage, police watched one of the individuals point a gun at Martinez, who then he drove off in his car, according to allegations. Ramirez's mom told police he was with two boys when he left that night, and "when they returned their behavior was odd." She told police that she asked Ramirez about the large police presence at the apartment complex. She told police her son was involved in a shooting the evening before, according to allegations. Ramirez said the other two boys set up a drug deal, and the 16-year-old "shot the drug dealer during the transaction," according to allegations in the complaint. More: Stepping up to help: Area districts providing school supplies this year More: San Angelo READS, pop-up event happening Friday This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: What happened the night of the murder of 19-year-old in San Angelo
