Update: Four shot, two dead at East Palo Alto party

A party to celebrate Halloween and a young woman’s birthday turned tragic early Sunday morning (Oct. 14) when a shooter killed two people and injured two others after an argument erupted, East Palo Alto police said.

The condition of the two people taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries was upgraded to stable, police said around noon Monday.

The incident occurred at about 2:45 a.m.; the East Palo Alto Police Department received notice of a ShotSpotter activation in the 2500 block of Pulgas Avenue, and 911 dispatchers received multiple phone calls of a shooting.

Police reported that the party at which the shootings occurred had been held outside at the rear of a business complex. ” … a dispute escalated into a physical altercation that quickly erupted into gunfire. The suspect fled the scene and is still outstanding at the time,” police said in a press release.

Officers arrived at the scene in less than two minutes to find four people with gunshot wounds. Personnel from the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and American Medical Response also responded to the call and treated the injured.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and two others were transported to the hospital. The deaths are the city’s first to occur in public since June 10, 2016.

Police identified one of the dead as Eduardo Alvarado Sandoval, a 22-year-old Stockton resident. The second person who died was 23-year-old Mario Andres Vidales Mendez of Redwood City, the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office said Wednesday.

A GoFundMe page set up to help Sandoval’s family pay for his funeral expenses has raised more than $5,800 of its $10,000 goal as of Monday afternoon. The 22-year-old man, also known as Lalo, had been dropped off at the party by his mother, according to fundraiser organizers.

Pablo Arias, owner of A-1 Auto Service and Towing, where the shooting took place, said his daughter was having a combined 22nd birthday and Halloween party in the business yard. About 35 to 40 people attended and had come from many locations.

There were no problems when he left the party between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 a.m. Sunday, he said, but a fight broke out while he was asleep at home. Initially, the conflict was between two people, then it carried over to some females, then to some males, he said. His daughter’s boyfriend was among the people who tried to break up the fight.

The armed person, whom the others did not know and who wasn’t a guest at the party, suddenly appeared and started shooting, striking four people, including Arias’ daughter’s boyfriend.

Someone knocked on Arias’ door to alert him about the shooting. When he arrived at the business, he found the place swarming with police. The boyfriend was one of two people taken to the hospital, he said.

“I never had problems in my life here in East Palo Alto. I feel very sorry. My daughter is very upset for the people who died,” he said.

Anyone who witnessed the shooting or has any information is urged to contact the East Palo Alto Police Department by calling Detective Lydia Cardoza at 650-853-7249; sending an anonymous email to epa@tipnow.org; or sending an anonymous text or voicemail to 650-409-6792.

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