3 young suspects arrested after alleged shootout with Union City police

UNION CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- A major investigation is underway after a shootout between police and three juvenile suspects in a stolen car in Union City, police say.

It happened at E Street and Railroad Avenue around 11:35 Monday night.

"I thought it was fireworks. But then after that, you hear semi-automatic, bup bup bup bup, and it was like 20 to 30 shots," neighbor Juanita Ramirez said.

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Ramirez lives across from the tracks. "I was just scared," she said. "Too close to home."

At mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the rail crossing was still cordoned off with evidence markers littering the crime scene.

Officers tried to stop a car with three juveniles. "Once that vehicle was stopped, two suspects get out of the vehicle and exchanged gunfire with our officers," said Union City Police spokesperson Lt. Steve Mendez.

One of them was hit. Both ran into the neighborhood, where they were captured. The suspect who was shot was arrested on a front lawn stained with blood.

The third suspect reportedly drove the car a few blocks away to Railroad Avenue and Whipple Road. There, police found a Toyota Camry with more than 20 bullet holes. There were also bullet holes in its windshield.

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Police arrested the driver there.

Mendez said the three suspects are all young. "Two of them were 16 years old and one was 15," he said. He said officers stopped the car because it was reported stolen.

"Our officers were in the area doing extra enforcement because we've had several shootings in Union City over the last few weeks," Mendez said.

The suspect hit in that shooting is being treated in the hospital with non-life threatening wounds.

There have been at least four shootings in the past 30 days in Union City, including an unsolved shooting at a funeral home last Thursday where five people were wounded.

Police are looking at evidence to see if they can link the suspects in this latest shooting to that one.

They did recover several weapons in the car Monday night, which they are analyzing.