SANTA MARIA - Dozens of SMPD officers along with mutual aid from neighboring law enforcement agencies converged on the West Newlove area of Santa Maria Wednesday afternoon looking for an armed gang member.
"I don't see how they could have not got him", says neighbor Ronald Rodriguez, "they had enough cops here, it seemed like all of SMPD was here."
Rodriguez lives in a mobile home park caught in the middle of the massive police manhunt for wanted gang member Ricardo Cruz.
Santa Maria Police say Cruz had a gun with him after he was involved in a domestic dispute and then tried to go into hiding in residential apartment complexes in the West Newlove area of town.
"I think they were doing the right thing of course", Rodriguez says, "If there's a bad guy, go get him."
Some residents were evacuated from their homes, and streets in the area were blocked off as a safety precaution while armed officers took up positions in a perimeter around where they believed Cruz was holed up.
Hours later Santa Maria Police say Cruz managed to evade arrest.
The news that Ricardo Cruz remains on the loose and is potentially armed and dangerous is less than comforting news for many of the people who live in the mainly residential West Newlove area.
"Sometimes the people are crazy", says neighbor Neyffi Noriega, "maybe he would enter my house or another house, this is a scary."
Santa Maria Police say they are confident they will eventually track Ricardo Cruz down.
"I don't think he's going to come in this park", Ronald Rodriguez says about Cruz still being in the area and wandering into his mobile home park, "there's too many people here who have guns, that would be a big mistake, I think."
