Crime scene investigations were paramount for 28 students attending the latest Junior Manteca Police Academy that ended last Friday at the Boys and Girls Club.

Police officers – including school resource officers – made the learning experience all possible for the students in the middle of their summer vacations.

The young cadets learned about the discipline as well as the many facets of police activities that included collecting evidence on a theortetical drive-by shooting that left a car outside the Boys and Girls Club building riddled by bullets.

They determined it appeared to be gang related when the car collided with a bicycle rider who had been wearing red gang colors.  The youthful investigators discovered a blue bandana attached to the steering wheel.  That little bit of evidence pointed to members of opposing gangs in the community.

During their investigation, they also located spent shells from a hand gun as well as a shotgun.  The bicycle rider allegedly opened fire on the driver of the car after he had been struck, young cadets said.

The cadets also located telltale footprints that had been left in patches of sand near the car that had crashed into a pine tree after the shooting.

The students attending the academy classes included Cesar Gutierrez, Eryn Scott, Joseph Meneses, Danile Silva-Meneses, Raymond Tucker, Tanner Franks-Hosman, Selena Juarez, Semajanique Steen, Chanyle Harrell, Taylor Reed, Eduardo Jasso, Richard Molina, Erik Garcia, Samuel Tucker, Alyssa Stratton, Ayrikha Romero, Elaina Romero, Veronika Romero, Madisyn Lancaster, Dreama Diaz, David Ramirez, Peyton DeBoer, Saul Contreras, River Artery, Trenton Nascimento, Michael Reed, Jaida Franklin, Riley Artery, and Raymond Bawman.