Sheriff: No arrests in Santa Rosa man's shooting death

Sonoma County sheriff’s detectives on Tuesday continued investigating the shooting death of a 20-year-old Santa Rosa man, and as of Tuesday evening no one had been arrested.

Victim Austin Sargent-Deselle, a Santa Rosa resident, had gang ties, according to sheriff’s officials. Detectives suspect Monday’s middle-of-the-night shooting at a southwest Santa Rosa apartment complex involved gang members or gang-related issues.

Sgt. Shannon McAlvain on Tuesday reported no new developments involving suspects, and he declined to release much detail regarding what happened during the shooting.

McAlvain said the victim had been with others, visiting someone at the Corby Avenue complex.

The group was outside at about 1:40 a.m. in a parking lot and common yard area when gunfire broke out. Callers dialing 911 reported hearing as many as nine rounds fired and someone screaming.

Sargent-Deselle was hit multiple times, and deputies arrived to find five men about to drive him to a hospital. The wounded man was moved to an ambulance and taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where efforts to save him failed.

Deputies detained the five who had been with him, taking them to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning.

Two of the men were arrested on unrelated issues - one was taken into custody for violating his probation, and another was wanted on an arrest warrant for suspected felony crimes.

Included in the five was Sargent-Deselle’s stepbrother, Cory Shelton, 22, of Santa Rosa, who said he heard gunfire and then saw his brother collapse. Shelton said he’d pressed on the victim’s wounds in an attempt to stop the bleeding as they got him to the car.

Shelton said he didn’t see who fired, echoing others who offered little or no information to help with the investigation. Sheriff’s officials Monday said there were no descriptions ?offered of a suspect or suspects.

One anonymous person told deputies they’d seen two men in all-black clothing running from the complex, officials said.

The slaying is the third homicide case of the year for sheriff’s detectives. In February, they began investigating the shooting of a Penngrove woman found bound in her Penngrove farmhouse; and in March, there was the death of a Cazadero man, beaten and stuffed into a barrel, which then was left on the doorstep of Sonoma City Hall. Arrests have been made in both crimes.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rossmannreport.