20 shots fired in Petaluma drive-by shooting

Six residents, including two children, were unharmed despite an early morning shooting in Petaluma that left a car and home riddled with more than 20 bullet holes.

Petaluma Police were piecing together the events that led to the shooting, apparent retaliation for a fight that occurred on the property three weeks ago.

Resident Gabriel Bonilla, 16, said he lives at the house with his mother, 20-year-old brother Ronal, a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old, having moved in to the rental home earlier this year. Police said a father was also at the residence during the shooting.

Bonilla said the shooting may have been retaliation for a gang-related fight outside the house three weeks ago; somebody threw rocks at the house and he and his brother confronted the people with knives and baseball bats, he said.

The 16-year-old said he was in the converted garage listening to music when the shooting took place shortly after midnight. He said he ran into the house and laid down on the kitchen floor.

“I was in the garage when I heard the shots,” Bonilla said. “I didn’t know what happened.”

“It was hella fast,” added Ronal Bonilla. “Like seven seconds."

Walls inside and outside of the house were pocked with bullet holes. A television was shattered as well as a mirrored wall.

During the fight three weeks ago police arrested Ronal Bonilla, charged in the stabbing of one person. The status of that case was not immediately available.

The early morning shooting Tuesday rocked this suburban Petaluma neighborhood. Neighbors said the violence was ruining what has been a quiet street.

“It’s frightening that the place where I grew up and once called Pleasantville is becoming so scary, said Kristine Floyd, who lives four houses away.

She said she was sleeping in her family’s motor home when the shooting happened. She said the weapon was likely a semi-automatic rifle.

Tuesday she was circulating a petition among neighbors for authorities to intervene. One goal, she said, was to get the family to move out.

“We can't be having this on these streets,” she said. “There’s an elementary school around the corner,” referring to Miwok Elementary School, now on summer break.

Two men in a silver, compact sedan stopped in front of a home in the 1000 block of Santa Clara Lane between Lakeville Highway and Miwok Park, according to police. One man got out of the car with a rifle and fired at least 20 rounds into the house and a car parked in the driveway.

“Several rounds punctured the house,” said Sgt. Ed Crosby.

The alleged shooter returned to the car and both men drove off shortly after midnight, Crosby said.

Investigators are following a number of leads and would not comment on whether police have been to the Santa Clara Lane home for other incidents recently.

“These are relatively rare in our city,” Crosby said.