Six people, five of them teenagers, were shot and wounded shortly after a graduation party in Santa Rosa broke up early Sunday morning.
At least two victims were recent graduates and student leaders at Elsie Allen High School and a third was the mother of one of the wounded teens.
Santa Rosa police said the attack appeared to be unprovoked. Investigators were searching for at least two gunmen in what was described as the city's worst shooting in memory.
"I don't ever recall a scene with six shooting victims ever in Santa Rosa," said Lt. Tom Swearingen, a 25-year police veteran. "I don't think I've ever seen this level of violence before."
Friends and school officials identified four of the victims: Josh Inong, 17; his mother, Corrine Inong, 48; Kelly Stalnaker, 18; and Vanessa Anderson, 18. Police declined to name the victims out of concern for their safety.
All six victims are residents of Santa Rosa, police said.
Josh Inong, the captain of Elsie Allen's nationally acclaimed rugby team, hosted a graduation party Saturday evening at his South Davis Street home in the Roseland neighborhood.
Police said Inong and Stalnaker, along with at least three other teens, left for another graduation party after Inong's party broke up. When they arrived back at Inong's house at about 2 a.m., two men emerged from the shadows and opened fire with a rifle and a shotgun.
The gunmen shouted gang epithets and fired at Inong and Stalnaker, who were standing on the porch, as well as three other teens standing in a driveway beside the cream-colored, wood-paneled house, police said.
None of the victims is believed to be a gang member, police said. Neither of the weapons used in the shooting has been recovered.
Josh Inong was shot in both legs, the back and the right arm. He was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Stalnaker, who was shot in the chest and both arms, also was taken to Memorial Hospital. Police interviewed both teens Sunday night.
Anderson was wounded in the thigh and her head was grazed by a bullet. She was airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.
Police said a 17-year-old boy was hit in the right thigh. A bullet grazed the scalp of another 17-year-old boy.
Corrine Inong was inside the house when she was hit in the right heel by a shot that went through a wall.
Individual reports weren't available for the victims but police said two were in critical but stable condition, two were in serious condition and two suffered moderate injuries.
The suspects were last seen running toward Olive Street. Police had no description for either of the men and it wasn't known if they had a vehicle.
Santa Rosa Police Chief Ed Flint vowed to capture the gunmen.
"We're in the early stages of this investigation," he said Sunday night. "We probably have a lot to do. But we have some very tenacious investigators, and they're not going to let this one go. We will get to the bottom of this."
Mary Beth Halsey, the vice principal at Elsie Allen, described the shootings as shocking.
"They're just beautiful young people, and it's a sad commentary .. . on our community that we have gang warfare, and at this point it is unsolved," she said.
