More than four years ago, investigators in remote Riverside County were called out to the scene of a mass murder of seven victims. On Thursday, sheriff’s deputies said that they believe that the killings were “a targeted incident involving gang members of a Laotian descent from the San Diego area.” While officials did not name the gang or any suspected individuals, they did say that they a mid-size dark colored SUV was connected to the incident An illegal marijuana growing operation where seven people were fatally shot in a small, rural Southern California town had the markings of organized crime, authorities said Tuesday. More than 20 people lived on the property in the 45000 block of Highway 371 in Aguanga, which had several makeshift dwellings, a nursery and vehicles used in production, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at the time. Marijuana was processed into honey oil, a highly potent concentrate made by extracting the high-inducing chemical THC from cannabis. All seven victims and witnesses were of Laotian descent, Bianco said in 2020. Six people were found dead on the property, and a woman who was shot there died later at a hospital. Anyone with information about the case is being urged to call Riverside Sheriff’s Department at (951) 955-2777 or by sending an email to Central Homicide Unit Master Investigator Victor Magana at [email protected]. Tips can also be sent in digitally here. More than 1,000 marijuana plants and several hundred pounds of processed marijuana were located at the scene, deputies said this week. Illegal grows are common in and around Aguanga, a single stop-sign town of about 2,000 people north of San Diego with horse ranches along dirt roads. Still, the scale of the Labor Day massacre stunned residents and showed how violence permeates California’s illegal marijuana market. The state broadly legalized recreational marijuana sales in January 2018. But the illicit market is still thriving — in part because hefty legal marijuana taxes send consumers looking for better deals in the illegal economy. Before dawn on Sept. 7, 2020, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call of an assault with a deadly weapon and shots fired at the Aguanga home. The sheriff’s statement at the time called the deaths “an isolated incident” that did not threaten people in Aguanga. Partially eaten pizza sat in boxes in a circular dirt driveway of the dilapidated two-bedroom house where the shootings occurred. Three cars were parked outside — one with its front doors open. Cases of bottled water were stacked on the front porch, which was strewn with clothing and plastic bags. A black tarp was stretched atop poles in the fenced backyard, indicating a small growing operation. Unlike many neighboring homes, it had neither a gate nor a “no trespassing” sign at the entrance. Reached by phone in 2020, property owner Ronald McKay expressed surprise, saying he didn’t know a shooting had taken place at either of the rentals, a mobile home and the house. He said he had tried to visit the day of the discovery to check on the well during the recent heat wave, but he was turned away by a deputy who wouldn’t tell him what was going on. McKay said he didn’t know the tenants or their names — the rentals are handled by someone who works with him. But he said the home had been rented for three years and the mobile home for two without incident. “I’m kind of unaware of anything right now,” McKay said. “For two and three years, they’ve been there — perfect. Never had an issue.” Aguanga, with its post office, general store and real estate brokerage, is in an area dotted with vineyards and horse ranches that have given it some traction as a weekend getaway for Southern California residents. It’s near Temecula, a bedroom community for San Diego and Los Angeles. Earlier in 2020, law enforcement officers seized more than 9,900 plants and collected 411 pounds (186 kilograms) of processed marijuana and firearms from suspected illegal marijuana sites in the Aguanga area. Four people were arrested. Law enforcement surveillance in the area has spawned nicknames like “Marijuana Mondays,” “Weed Wednesdays” and “THC Thursdays,” said Mike Dunn, a real estate broker and 28-year Aguanga resident. Dunn said he does real-estate business with pot growers — some of whom live in his gated community. Residents move to Aguanga for “peace and solitude,” Dunn said. “People live here because it’s not in the city.” Aguanga’s isolation, however, may have made it prone to illegal marijuana sales and cultivation. The sheriff said almost every marijuana operation in the mountainous communities is illegal. Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, a cannabis industry group, said in 2020 that the shootings were a reminder that the sprawling illegal marketplace remains largely unchecked. “Shame on all of us: It seems we have one foot in and one foot out on regulating this industry,” Spiker said. “This risk is inherent in the underground market,” said Los Angeles marijuana dispensary owner Jerred Kiloh, who heads United Cannabis Business Association, an industry group. “When you have money and high returns, people want to take that from you.” Kiloh said most illicit market crimes go unreported because farmers who have been robbed cannot turn to authorities. Laotian involvement in illegal marijuana harvesting has grown over the last decades in California’s agricultural heartland. People from the relatively small community account for much of the pot growing in backyards and on prime farmland.