Windsor man shot, wounded in Mendocino County pot farm

A 25-year-old Windsor man was shot and wounded Sunday near a remote illegal marijuana garden in southern Mendocino County, sheriff’s officials said.

Authorities have not yet arrested a suspected shooter in the case, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten said. Detectives also were investigating the wounded man’s connection to the marijuana garden, which appeared to be a trespass operation on remote private property near the community of Yorkville off Highway 128 southeast of Boonville, he said.

The man’s identity was being withheld while detectives chase several leads on who shot him, Van Patten said.

The incident began with a 911 call at 7:18 a.m. Sunday.

The caller had been phoned by the Windsor man, who said he’d been shot in a marijuana garden, and the caller gave the Sheriff’s Office the wounded man’s cellphone number.

The Windsor man could only describe his general location in a area near Yorkville, Van Patten said. Deputies and the Calstar 4 medical helicopter crew, both dispatched from the Ukiah area, used sirens and helicopter noise to help the man describe his location in relation to the sounds.

A deputy finally heard the man yelling, and found him at 9:49 a.m. in a wooded area near the 37000 block of Highway 128 southeast of Yorkville, Van Patten said.

The Calstar helicopter had been called away for another emergency, and a REACH medical helicopter landed at ?10:11 a.m. and began treating the man before flying him to an unspecified hospital. The shooting victim and deputies communicated despite a language barrier because the wounded man spoke Spanish and not English, Van Patten said.

Van Patten said Monday morning that the man had been shot multiple times and while his injuries were life-threatening, he was expected to survive.

The marijuana garden was in a remote location on private property, and the property owners did not know it was there, Van Patten said.

The man apparently fled the marijuana garden after he was shot and was found “a hike” away from the plants, Van Patten said. The captain did not have details about the size of the pot garden.

Anyone with information about the case can call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 234-2100.

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