Santa Cruz 39

Shots fired across countyhots rang out across the county late Friday and early Saturday, leaving three people wounded.

One man in Santa Cruz was shot in the torso on Mission Street on Friday and two men were hit by bullets when someone fired multiple rounds through the garage door of a Watsonville home early Saturday. The gun violence came within 12 hours of an attack in Watsonville on Friday that sent two teens to the hospital with serious stab wounds.

"Summer is upon us and that is typically a busy time where gang activity tends to increase," Santa Cruz police Lt. Rick Martinez said. "It's not an uncommon pattern. We had three homicides last summer alone. We're hoping we don't see that again and are putting every measure in place to prevent such incidents."

No arrests have been made in the shooting on the 1300 block of Mission Street in Santa Cruz Friday night.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at 8:50 p.m. When they arrived at the scene, they found a 25-year-old Santa Cruz man with two small-caliber gunshot wounds in his upper torso. An initial report from emergency dispatchers stated the victim had stab wounds was incorrect.

Police determined from victim and witness statements that the shooting stemmed from an earlier altercation between the victim and two gang members. Martinez said the victim is not a gang member but that people he was with may be.

Two men shouted gang slogans at the victim during the initial fight on Mission Street, and
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one pulled a handgun and fired, according to police, but none of the rounds hit the victim. All of the involved parties fled in separate directions after the gun was fired, according to police.

The victim fled on foot while the two assailants left the scene in a white, four-door Volkswagen Jetta. Within minutes, the assailants found the victim walking on the 1200 block of Mission Street. One of the men opened fire, this time striking the victim, police said. The victim walked back to the 1300 block of Mission Street, where he called for assistance.

The Jetta was last seen on Mission Street heading east toward Laurel Street. The shooters were described as two Latino males in their late teens or early 20s, one wearing a white T-shirt and one wearing a brown T-shirt.

The man was flown to an out-of-county trauma center and was listed in stable condition Saturday, according to police. No other victims were found.

Three hours later, a shooting was reported in Watsonville.

At 12:10 a.m., Watsonville police were dispatched to a call of shots heard in the area of Herman Avenue and Herman Court. While officers were canvassing the area, Watsonville Community Hospital emergency room staff called police to report they had two people with gunshot wounds.

Police were informed that there had been a gathering in the garage of a home on Herman Court and the shooter fired multiple rounds through the closed garage door. A 27-year-old Morgan Hill man and an 18-year-old Watsonville man were struck by the bullets. One was hit in an arm and the other in the foot. Both men were treated and released from Watsonville Community Hospital.

Police found .45 caliber shell casings and a blood trail at the home, according to Watsonville Sgt. Eric Taylor. Police said they do not know if the shooting was gang related and no arrests have been made.

That shooting came nearly 12 hours after a stabbing was reported in the same area on the 200 block of Sunny Hills Drive in Watsonville. Two teenage gang members suffered life-threatening wounds in that attack, according to police.

Police said Friday that the boys' friends were not helping officers find the rival gang responsible for the attack. As of Saturday, the boys were in serious but stable condition.

A stabbing Wednesday night in front of a Brooklyn Street home in Pajaro left Alvaro Gonzalez Rodriguez dead. The homicide is still being investigated.