By Jason Islas
Staff Writer

July 24, 2012 -- Santa Monica Police Detective Larry Nicols runs his finger down a yellowed page, scanning a list of murders that took place in Santa Monica, organized by year.

In 1995, Nicols counts 10 murders. Of those, he says, three were gang-related, part of a series of  20 gang-related murders that took place in the beachside city from 1990 to1999.

“I probably have a half dozen of these,” said Nicols, gesturing at the black binders in front of him. Each one is a gang-related murder that, for one reason or another, remains unsolved.

There are reasons why an investigation into a gang-related shooting could reach a dead-end, Nicols said.

Not least of all, hostility toward law enforcement.

“More times than not, the surviving witnesses are reluctant to give statements to the police,” said Nicols.

That was the case in the 1995 murder of Salvador Palomino. Palomino was gunned down while hanging out with two friends in front of a house on 19th Street in Santa Monica’s Pico Neighborhood.

“The only witnesses were the ones involved" in the shooting, said Nicols.

Based on the police report, it is clear that neither of Palomino’s friends was eager to give the police much information. They identified the suspects as male Hispanics, aged 18 to 24 in a burgundy or red Toyota or Nissan.

But when officers asked them if they recognized anyone in the car, they just smiled and said, “No.”

Sometimes, there are no witnesses at all.

Late on a summer evening in 1995, Brenda Swartz and Luis Cuevas were “on their way to buy beer,” said Nicols.

A black, 4-door car, which the report describes as possibly a Nissan, pulled up next to Swartz’s car.

Cuevas got out of the car after the men in the 4-door flashed gang signs, according to Swartz.

She remembered hearing four or five gun shots, then Cuevas got back in the car and told her to drive to Santa Monica Hospital, where he died from a bullet wound to the chest.

Aside from some bullet fragments and a few shell casing, all the police had to go on is a sketch Swartz drew of the scene.

The third victim of a gang-related shooting in 1995, Betty Casillas, was hit twice in her hip by bullets coming from “an unknown direction,” according to the police report. Casillas died early in the morning of November 11, 1996 at the age of 21.

Though she wasn't affiliated with gangs, Casillas was hanging out with her friend, Leonel Castillo, a member of Santa Monica's “Trece” -- 13 in Spanish -- gang, according to Nicols.

“He was probably the target,” he said.

No one saw a car or possible shooter. At the scene, the police recovered some beer cans and 9 millimeter casings.

With so little to go one, Nicols is not optimistic that any of these cases will be solved. And in gang culture, where retaliation killings are common, he admits that it's possible that the shooters in some of these cases may already be dead.

Still, he hopes that some day, police will at least be able to identify the killers.

“I'd like to think someone would give a dying declaration,” said Nicols.

Those with information on the crimes should call the Santa Monica Police Department Cold Case Homicide Unit at 310.458.8451 or anonymously on the 24hr tip line at 310.458.8449 or WeTip at 800.78-CRIME.

For information about other cold cases, visit the SMPD Cold Case website
http://santamonicapd.org/Content.aspx?id=19361