Investigators seeking witnesses to shooting of suspect by Sonoma State University officer

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office is withholding the name of a Sonoma State University officer “for his own safety” after he fought and shot a man off campus early Friday near the Cotati Plaza, a sheriff’s spokesman said Saturday.

Detectives over the weekend were seeking to interview witnesses to the shooting, which left a 22-year-old man hospitalized in critical condition and undergoing additional surgery Saturday, Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

The shooting victim, whose name also was withheld by the Sheriff’s Office, had been suspected of earlier firing a weapon near the Cotati Plaza on Friday, according to sheriff’s and SSU police officials.

Before releasing identities in such cases, Crum said, “we have to make a determination what the threat level might be” to the officer. When warranted, Crum said, the Sheriff’s Office also will give the officer “ample time to protect himself.”

Identifying the wounded man at this point - he has not been arrested - would be “inappropriate,” Crum said, declining to elaborate.

The officer shot the young man about 4:45 a.m. Friday during a confrontation in the 100 block of East Cotati Avenue, about 2 miles from campus.

That morning, Cotati police had requested assistance from the SSU force after numerous fights broke out as bars were closing about 2 a.m. near the town’s plaza, Crum said. Four women told officers they had tried to break up a fight between a man and a woman, when the man pulled a gun and threatened to kill one of the women if they did not leave.

Officers heard multiple gunshots shortly afterward, but were unable to locate a victim or suspect. They found four bullet casings from a handgun, Crum said.

Later, the SSU officer saw a man he believed had been involved in the plaza incident, officials said. At the time the man was walking out of a creek bed.

The man ran from the officer, who chased him and engaged in a fight, Crum said. When the officer’s Taser was ineffective, he shot the man twice with his service weapon, he said.

The officer was not injured. He has been placed on paid administrative leave, following the protocol for law enforcement-related shootings, Crum said

The wounded man hasn’t been arrested, Crum said, because he “is not going anywhere. There are no time constraints for us to arrest him.” Authorities have declined to say whether he was armed at the time.

Investigators have identified potential witnesses and are attempting to interview them, he said.

In the meantime, Crum said, officials aren’t releasing any new information, including whether detectives believe the young man was the same person that officers earlier had been seeking. So doing, he said, could “compromise a witness statement.”

“We don’t want their testimony to be tainted by anything they read in the press,” Crum said.

Gary Delsohn, the communications ?director at SSU, on Saturday said the ?Sheriff’s Office is handling all media inquiries.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner. You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.