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16-year-old arrested in shooting, part of Caldwell’s growing violence

Orena Hernandez is comforted by her father, Ray Hernandez, after learning that her boyfriend was the victim of an Oct. 11 shooting in Caldwell, Idaho. Sigmund Goode, 21, died. Orena Hernandez is comforted by her father, Ray Hernandez, after learning that her boyfriend was the victim of an Oct. 11 shooting in Caldwell, Idaho. Sigmund Goode, 21, died. (File/Associated PressFile/Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Orena Hernandez is comforted by her father, Ray Hernandez, after learning that her boyfriend was the victim of an Oct. 11 shooting in Caldwell, Idaho. Sigmund Goode, 21, died. Orena Hernandez is comforted by her father, Ray Hernandez, after learning that her boyfriend was the victim of an Oct. 11 shooting in Caldwell, Idaho. Sigmund Goode, 21, died. (File/Associated PressFile/Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

CALDWELL, Idaho – A 16-year-old was arrested in a weekend drive-by shooting that left a younger boy wounded in escalating gun violence that has gripped the city.

“It is gang-related,” police Lt. Frank Wyant said. “But as far as the details, I can’t release them.”

Paul Galvez was charged as an adult with attempted second-degree murder in the Saturday shooting of a 14-year-old boy. The victim, who has not been identified, was released from the hospital. Galvez was being held in lieu of $550,000 bond.

Wyant indicated that more information on the shooting would be provided during Galvez’s preliminary hearing set for Nov. 24.

Investigators said the 14-year-old had associated with gang members but was apparently not a member himself.

He was found blocks from the site of a fatal shooting in August, but police believe the teenager was wounded somewhere else.

This farming community of 31,000 about 25 miles west of Boise has had more than 100 reports of shootings since July. Two people have died, and several more have been wounded.

In the most recent fatal drive-by shooting – the Oct. 11 murder of Sigmund Goode, 21 – Canyon County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Virginia Bond announced she would not seek the death penalty against Ismael Tovar, 29, and Lucio Esparza, 23.

Both men pleaded innocent this week to first-degree murder charges. Tovar is scheduled to be tried beginning Feb. 24, and Esparza’s trial starts March 15.

“The facts of the cases don’t meet the criteria for the death penalty,” Bond said, citing the absence of circumstances that would make Goode’s slaying “heinous and atrocious” as prescribed by state law.

The attorney for Tovar, who is charged with firing the fatal shots, has disputed testimony at an earlier hearing that Tovar and Goode had a verbal confrontation shortly before the shooting. Although no one saw the shots fired, witnesses who heard gunfire have testified to seeing Tovar and Esparza flee the scene.

The city has applied for federal financial assistance to crack down on gang activity and provide alternatives to gang involvement for young people.

The community has also mobilized to assist police in identifying and arresting those responsible for the violence.