Two people arrested for bat attacks in Oceanside Harbor

Two suspected gang members have been arrested on suspicion of attacking passersby with baseball bats near Oceanside Harbor last month, police said Wednesday.

According to Oceanside police, detectives investigating the assaults arrested the pair, a 21-year-old Oceanside man and a 20-year-old Vista man, on Tuesday. They were booked into Vista County Jail on numerous charges, including attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, participating in gang activity and probation violations.

Investigators also identified three other suspects and were working on their search, police said.

According to police, the crime was apparently motivated by gang violence.

The group allegedly attacked two people on North Harbor Drive shortly before 9 p.m. on August 17 and then fled in a vehicle, police said. The victims were taken to hospital with head injuries.

Witnesses reported that the masked attackers appeared to be randomly attacking people who were passing by. The perpetrators also confronted a passerby and tried to steal her cellphone, which she had used to record a video of the violence, police said.

Shortly after receiving the report of the attack, police received information about two people being treated for similar injuries at Tri-City Medical Center. Although they did not appear to be connected to the other victims, they had been attacked in the same area and in the same manner, apparently by the same assailants, police said.

According to police, the victims suffered injuries of varying severity, including cuts to the head, and one of them had a facial fracture.

The suspects were held without bail pending arraignment scheduled for Thursday afternoon.