Ignacio Cervantes, 74, was shot and killed on June 2 while working at the Stockton Flea Market in Stockton, Calif.
 
On the morning of June 2, Cervantes arrived at the flea market with his family to sell jewelry. While unloading his inventory, two armed men approached him and his family. According to police reports, one of the suspects shot Cervantes and then both men fled the scene in Cervantes’ Lincoln Navigator. The victim was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
 
Stockton Police located the stolen vehicle in a vacant lot near the flea market. They are still searching for the suspects. “The crime was well-planned and organized, targeting Mr. Cervantes,” Officer Joe Silva, public information officer of the Stockton Police, says. “It was a heinous act of violence occurring in front of the victim’s family.”

“Selling jewelry in a flea market where there is little, if any, security is a very dangerous activity,” John Kennedy, president of the Jewelers Security Alliance, says. “The vendor is out in the open with valuable merchandise without effective protection.”

Anyone with information is requested to call the Stockton Homicide Investigation Unit at (209) 937-8323 or contact Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.

JCK