Two men out for revenge allegedly fired a shotgun at a parked car in Gualala, striking a woman standing nearby as she smoked a cigarette, Mendocino County sheriff's officials said Wednesday.
Shotgun pellets hit the 39-year-old woman in the head and caused a serious eye injury. The woman, whose name was withheld, was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital late Tuesday.
A tip from witnesses about the shooting led Sonoma County sheriff's deputies to the nearby Kashia reservation at Stewarts Point, Mendocino Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Caudillo said.
Deputies found a car and two young men suspected of being involved in the shooting, Caudillo said. The suspects indicated the shooting stemmed from a perceived slight involving someone whistling at one of them earlier in the day, he said.
The Stewarts Point reservation residents allegedly drove to a home in Gualala and shot at the parked car in retribution, the sergeant said.
The victim was standing near the car, smoking a cigarette, as a white Chrysler-style car cruised by and four to five shotgun blasts were fired from the passing vehicle.
A 911 caller reported the shooting at 10:18 p.m. Tuesday. Deputies from Mendocino and Sonoma counties responded to the scene.
Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Mason, who works the northern Sonoma Coast, recognized the description of the car and alerted Mendocino deputies that one of the suspects could be a resident of the reservation.
Sonoma County deputies found the suspects' car. Inside were shotgun shells, which matched shells found in the road outside the Gualala home, Caudillo said.
Inside a nearby home, Sonoma and Mendocino deputies found Lamont Salgado, 18, and Christopher Ochoa, 21, and a 20-gauge shotgun, which was believed to have been used in the shooting.
They were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy and were booked into the Mendocino County Jail.
You can reach Staff Writer
Randi Rossmann at 521-5412
or randi.rossmann@
pressdemocrat.com.
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