Santa Rosa police: Teen shot on Prince Memorial Greenway

A 14-year-old boy who was drinking alcohol with a friend on Santa Rosa’s Prince Memorial Greenway late Tuesday was shot after being confronted by older teens who accused them of being rival gang members, police said.

The boy was hit twice by gunfire and the wounds were serious but not life-threatening, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. John Cregan said.

The shooting took place about 50 yards up the Greenway path, which starts near City Hall and follows Santa Rosa Creek west, Cregan said. The wounded boy and his friend then ran to the Roxy Theater in downtown Santa Rosa, pounded on the door and yelled for help, Cregan said.

Detectives on Wednesday were searching for surveillance images, witnesses and other leads that might help them identify the two male suspects. They had little description to go on, but the suspects may have been in their teens or early 20s, Cregan said.

The boys, Santa Rosa residents age 14 and 16, were hanging out on the Greenway drinking when they were confronted shortly before 9:20 p.m.

“The suspects perceived them to be rival gang members and challenged them,” Cregan said.

Police suspect the boys do “have some associations with criminal gangs,” the sergeant said.

One of the suspects pulled a handgun out of his waistband. The boys turned and ran. The gunman fired at least five shots, striking the 14-year-old twice, Cregan said. The other boy was not hit. The boys ran to the downtown theater off Third Street and police were called at 9:21 p.m.

Witness accounts conflict, but some reports indicate the suspects may have headed west on the Greenway on BMX-style bicycles after the shooting, Cregan said. Before the shooting, the boys had been hanging out downtown and then headed to the Greenway, police said.

While shootings are rare, the Greenway and Santa Rosa Creek paths that are popular to bikers, dog walkers and others also are frequented by homeless people and juveniles looking to drink, smoke and do other things out of sight.

“It’s an area that struggles,” Cregan said.

In September, two teens with gang affiliations knocked a man to the ground, ordered him to take off his shoes and demanded money, police said.

Detectives hoped that any witnesses who saw the boys and the suspects downtown or on the Greenway path will come forward.

The Sonoma County Alliance’s Take Back Our Community program is offering up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the gang crimes team at 543-3670. Confidential, anonymous messages about gang activity can be left for the Santa Rosa police gang unit at 543-4264.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.