CASA BLANCA 1975 CORNFIELD INCIDENT

Terror, Violence in Riverside
Daytona Beach Morning News Journal
Associated Press
August 15, 1975

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - About 100 heavily armed law officers searched unsuccessfully Thursday for snipers after a night of violence in a predominantly Mexican-American Casa Blanca area of Riverside Calif.

Six persons including two police officers, were wounded by gunfire Wednesday night, police said. A police helicopter and light plane were disabled by what police said was automatic weapons fire.

No further violence was reported after daybreak Thursday. One of the wounded, Sgt. Ben Castleberry, was hit by 17 shotgun pellets in the face and side. Doctors said he could lose his right eye.

Toting shotguns and wearing flak vests, men from Special Weapons and Tactics teams from San Diego and San Bernardino and other officers probed a small cornfield where four snipers were believed to be hiding after they drove police from the area hours earlier.

Officers also searched the yards of six nearby houses. Police at first believed 50 armed men were holed up in the residences.

A helicopter with shotgun-armed deputies leaning out the open doors swept back and forth for nearly three hours over the cornfield, hovering so low that the skids brushed against the stalks.

Lt. Lee Gren said about a half dozen persons were detained, some only briefly for questioning. A 15-year-old youth was arrested Wednesday night about two hours after the violence erupted and booked for investigation of assault and attempted murder.

A young woman was reported missing in an incident that touched off the violence, but police said she was later located. Police gave no details about how or where they found her.

The woman, who had been identified only as “Kathy,” 22, was reportedly the girlfriend of Steven Clark, 28, who was dragged from his pickup truck, stabbed three times, shot and beaten Wednesday night.

The violence began when police arrived about 11 p.m. Wednesday and found Clark. A crowd gathered, and shots were fired police said. The patrolmen on the scene called for reinforcements.

Clark was reported in satisfactory condition Thursday at Riverside General Hospital.

Police said they would have heavier-than-normal patrolling in the 6,000-person Casa Blanca area “until further notice.”

Tensions between residents and police had been growing since 56 persons were reported arrested at a party last weekend for disturbing the peace.

The area in Riverside’s southwest section is predominantly Mexican-American with a few blacks. In the past some residents have complained of excessive police patrols and said they were being harassed.

3 Held in California Gun Battle
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 16, 1975

R I V E R S I D E, Calif. (AP) - Police held suspects and evidence yesterday but conceded they had no long-term solutions for the hatred which erupted into a four-hour gun battle with Casa Blanca residents Thursday.

The inquiry into Thursday’s incident continued with three men held for investigation of attempted murder. A handgun was retained for a ballistics examination.

“I wish I could tell you the answer to the violence but I can’t” said Police Chief Fred Ferguson. He said seven policemen have been shot in the 6,000-member, predominantly Mexican-American community since 1971. Sniping at police cars here is common, officers say.

Ferguson said there had been no violence in the area since the Thursday violence and gun battle that left two police sergeants and four other persons wounded. Doctors believe one of the officers, Sgt. Ben Castleberry, may lose an eye, the chief said.

Ferguson said the arrest near midnight of a third man in the wounding of the two policemen did not complete the police investigation and that more arrests and charges were possible. He said his men remain on special alert in case of new violence.

The handgun was seized by officers in the search of two homes at the center of the shootout. Residents watched from their yards as about 50 police moved into the area yesterday morning.

Ferguson says the tension mainly are between the predominantly white police and the community’s young gangs. Residents say many of the young consider it a mark of manhood to oppose police.

Police accused of raising tensions
Tri-City Herald
August 15, 1975

R I V E R S I D E, Calif. (AP) - Residents of this city’s predominantly Mexican-American Casa Blanca section, after a shootout between officers and snipers that left six wounded, say that police actions in the incident only aggravated long-standing tensions.

“We’ve been abused for a long time in Casa Blanca and we haven’t ever done anything about it,” said Tony Romero, whose 20-year-old nephew was among those injured in the disturbance early Thursday.

Romero’s comments came at a meeting of about 50 Casa Blanca community leaders Thursday night at which there were calls for a Justice Department investigation into the violence outbreak.

The Disturbance started Wednesday night when police responded to a report that Steve Clark, 28, had been found shot and stabbed and his pickup truck vandalized. Police Chief Fred Ferguson said later Clark was believed to have been in a dispute over narcotics.

Officers on the scene said they were fired on by as many as 60 snipers, who reportedly fled into nearby cornfields. A police airplane and helicopter were shot at and disabled. But when shotgun toting officers made a sweep of the field in military formation, they came up empty handed.

The battle meanwhile spread to nearby streets. When it was over, two policemen and at-least four civilians had been wounded by gunshots and four persons had been arrested.

One of the officers injured in the incident, Sgt. Ben Castleberry, was hit in the face by shotgun pellets and officials said he may lose an eye.

Clark was in guarded condition with gunshot and knife wounds. The atmosphere remained tense Thursday night, but there were no reports of further incidents.

Police said they had not stepped up patrols in the area, although officers were working 12-hour shifts to make more manpower available in the event of further violence.

Big Shootout in Riverside
Lodi News - Sentinel
August 15, 1975

RIVERSIDE (UPI) - A confused night of shooting in what police called a “very troublesome” Mexican-American neighborhood ended Thursday with houses and cars pocked with bullets, two police aircrafts downed by gunfire and at-least six persons wounded.

The wounded included two policemen, three men and a woman. Two suspected snipers, both wounded, and a 15-year-old boy were in custody. Police and residents of the neighborhood told changing and contradictory stories.

In the main firefight, police in a commandeered garbage truck rolled down a residential street, shooting from the protection of the heavy steel garbage bin. The driver and another officer were wounded by return fire, and a woman resident of the neighborhood was hit in the foot.

The two suspected snipers, 18 and 20, were believed wounded in the exchange.

The incident was ignited by the shooting and stabbing Wednesday night of Steven Clark, 28. The suspected assailants, fleeing police, hid in a 40-acre cornfield in the semi-rural Casa Blanca neighborhood.

Police Chief Fred Ferguson said police were fired on from nearby houses “to draw us away from the corn field so they could escape.”

There is an element (in Casa Blanca) that constantly have ongoing altercations with the police.” Ferguson said. “We are shot at almost daily there.”

He estimated 200 shots were fired during the night and morning as officers surrounded the cornfield and nearby houses.

Aircraft were called to help search the big cornfield. Three bullets hit a police helicopter in the stabilizer (tail).

Very interesting read, thanks for posting this up homie!

Paid_in_full wrote:Very interesting read, thanks for posting this up homie!

NO PROBLEM HOMIE.. IT SEEMED LIKE NO ONE EVER KNEW ABOUT HOW THE SHOOTING DOWN OF THE CHOPPER BACK IN '75 WENT DOWN SO I HAD TO LOOK FOR THESE

i found these old briefs about other shootings that went down around the 70s in the neighborhood...

3 sniper suspects arrested
The Modesto Bee
Mar 21, 1979
Three residents of Riverside’s Casa Blanca barrio were arrested late Monday on charges of attempted murder in connection with a series of snipings in which a police helicopter was shot and at least one motorist was injured. Police said the one man and two juveniles have refused to comment on their actions. Vehicles driven by three persons and a helicopter was fired upon for the third time in nine days, officers said.


Riverside Quiet After Shooting of 4 Officers
Sep 1, 1970
The predominantly Mexican-American Casa Blanca neighborhood was quiet Monday following a night of disorders during which four policemen were wounded by one shotgun. The Riverside ambush occurred in the back yard of the neighborhood, where firebombs had been hurled earlier. One of the injured patrolmen was hospitalized with neck and chest wounds. Injuries to the other three policemen were minor.

Four policemen shot in unrest
Spokane Daily Chronicle
Aug. 31 1970
Four policemen in Riverside, Calif., 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles, were shot from ambush Sunday night during a search of a Mexican-American neighborhood. 100 young persons had tried to barricade streets and were suspected of throwing firebombs earlier in the evening. None was reported seriously injured.
Police said they did not know what precipitated the throwing of firebombs and rocks in a city park. Four persons were arrested but none were charged in the shootings, police said.

CBxBOY32 wrote:i found these old briefs about other shootings that went down around the 70s in the neighborhood...

3 sniper suspects arrested
The Modesto Bee
Mar 21, 1979
Three residents of Riverside’s Casa Blanca barrio were arrested late Monday on charges of attempted murder in connection with a series of snipings in which a police helicopter was shot and at least one motorist was injured. Police said the one man and two juveniles have refused to comment on their actions. Vehicles driven by three persons and a helicopter was fired upon for the third time in nine days, officers said.


Riverside Quiet After Shooting of 4 Officers
Sep 1, 1970
The predominantly Mexican-American Casa Blanca neighborhood was quiet Monday following a night of disorders during which four policemen were wounded by one shotgun. The Riverside ambush occurred in the back yard of the neighborhood, where firebombs had been hurled earlier. One of the injured patrolmen was hospitalized with neck and chest wounds. Injuries to the other three policemen were minor.

Four policemen shot in unrest
Spokane Daily Chronicle
Aug. 31 1970
Four policemen in Riverside, Calif., 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles, were shot from ambush Sunday night during a search of a Mexican-American neighborhood. 100 young persons had tried to barricade streets and were suspected of throwing firebombs earlier in the evening. None was reported seriously injured.
Police said they did not know what precipitated the throwing of firebombs and rocks in a city park. Four persons were arrested but none were charged in the shootings, police said.

this news made it off to other states thats why Casa Blanca is a well known and notorious varrio

True that. Good find homie.

3 sniper suspects arrested
The Modesto Bee
Mar 21, 1979
Three residents of Riverside’s Casa Blanca barrio were arrested late Monday on charges of attempted murder in connection with a series of snipings in which a police helicopter was shot and at least one motorist was injured. Police said the one man and two juveniles have refused to comment on their actions. Vehicles driven by three persons and a helicopter was fired upon for the third time in nine days, officers said.

notice the date and how this never made big news because the helicopter wasn't brought down, but it was found with a bullet hole.. but the two infamous times the helicopter was brought down weren't the only times shots were taken at it, it happened several times

nice articles...

lol...CB was wildin..

W.Devil wrote:nice articles...

lol...CB was wildin..

yeaah it was.. in the 80s n 90s police never went in they were too scared
u wouldnt believe the stories my gramps & tios told me.. real crazy shit

I was born & raised in Casa Blanca on Pliny St. I remember the helicopter incident as if it was yesterday!!!!!

THIS SHIT STRTD WITH A FAMILY FUED CRAZY SHIT.. MY MOM AND HER SIDE OF THE FAM BAM WAS AROUND DURING THIS TIME.. THE ROMEROS AND GUZMANS AND I FORGET THE OTHER NAMES

Shot out you for all this history bro . I was raised off harrison and Indiana but alotta my boys are from casa.. and I spent alotta time there as a youngster in the 90s.

I took a trip down memory lane. I remember all of tthis stuff happening when I was active running these s/some streets. Homies still banging but we all need to stop pressing hoods and get this money!

South side the only part of the riv where all the Hispanic hoods beef with each other. E/S w/s are all clicked up.

Shot out to the VBS. and all respect due to evans st.. Rip boxer. I grew up with him and his brother since elementary. Thx for posting all of these