Riverside (US), Jan 3 (AP) Authorities say they suspect gang members of Laotian descent were involved in the 2020 shooting deaths of seven people at an illegal marijuana growing operation in a small, rural Southern California town.

Riverside County Sheriff's investigators also have identified a mid-size, dark-coloured SUV that was believed to be used during the killings in the remote community of Aguanga, the agency said in a news release.

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Authorities said they believe the killings were a targeted incident and will discuss the investigation at a news conference Friday.

The announcement comes more than four years after the killing of seven victims, all who were Laotian. Six people were found dead on the property, and a woman who was shot there died later at a hospital.

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More than 20 people lived on the property, which had makeshift dwellings and a nursery. More 1,000 marijuana plants and several hundred pounds of processed marijuana were found at the site.

The state broadly legalised recreational marijuana sales in January 2018. But the illicit market continued, partly because hefty legal marijuana taxes sent consumers looking for better deals in the illegal economy.

Aguanga is a small mountainous community about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of San Diego with horse ranches along dirt roads. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)