CERES, Calif. — Just feet away from the busy Hatch Road in Ceres, is the peacefully rushing water of the Ceres Main Canal. Along its banks is where a 39-year-old man, who friends say was known as "CP," found rest each night.
"The white noise kind of helped drown out everything else going on," said a homeless outreach volunteer and friend of CP's who identified himself as Daks. "He’s a good guy, he’s really funny."
The Ceres Police Department identified the man as Cipriano Cervantes Casas Jr. on Oct. 23.
Just after midnight Sunday, CP's peace was washed away. Ceres Police say he was shot and killed. Tragically, he wasn’t the only victim. Officers say that just minutes after the deadly shooting, another homeless man was shot less than a mile away and along the same canal, at Faith Home Road and Hatch Road.
"It’s a bad place at a bad time," said Daks.
The second victim survived his injuries. While investigators say they don’t know what motivated the violence or if the shootings are connected, they share one thing: a person of interest, described by law enforcement as a five-foot-seven man with dark hair, dark clothing and a stalky build.
Police are asking residents in the area to check their security camera footage from before sunrise Sunday morning and to report what they heard or saw.
"We’re all keeping an eye out for the person of interest," said Daks. "But life’s got to go on."
Other homeless advocates say while life should go on, the shootings should serve as a call to action. The closest homeless shelter to Ceres is in Modesto.
"Ceres, according to the PIT count, had a very low count of homeless people, so therefore there really are little to no services out here," said Steven Finch, Chairman of Stanislaus Homeless Advocacy and Resource Enterprise. "We’ve got to make those in power understand that we need to have safe places for people to sleep."
A safe place to sleep and a small wave of peace, for some, now seems like a matter of life or death.
"If you watch out for other people, they’ll watch out for you," said Daks. "It needs to be a safe place for all of us."
Watch more from ABC10: Man dies after being shot by Ceres police officer
