Deputies seek masked teens after shots fired in southwest Santa Rosa

Reports of gunfire from masked teen boys early Tuesday afternoon brought several deputies to a southern Santa Rosa neighborhood in the latest of a series of shootings that have sent law enforcement searching for the source of the shots.

At about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, neighbors heard gunfire and looked outside. A caller reported seeing five teens running away, at least three of them wearing blue bandanas partially covering their faces on Moorland Avenue between Thistle Lane and Gio Drive, Sgt. Cecile Focha said. They ran toward Neville Way.

There were no known victims of the gunfire, reported at 12:37 p.m.

The first deputy arrived three minutes after the first call but found no sign of the shooters, Focha said. Deputies checked numerous homes looking for anyone injured and found no one and no sign of the group. They found one shell casing in the street.

The neighborhood, just over the Santa Rosa border into Sonoma County along the west side of Highway 101, has been the site of numerous reports of gunfire in recent weeks. On Tuesday, blue graffiti covered residential fences and the sidewalk near Moorland Avenue’s intersection with Thistle Lane. The messages appeared to be gang related.

Deputies and Santa Rosa police officers have been finding bullet holes in homes, cars, trees and shell casings left behind in several area neighborhoods - but no shooters.

On June 22, bullets pierced the front door of an Eddy Road home just one block north from the site of Tuesday’s shooting. Sheriff’s deputies tracked one bullet from its entry point through the front door, through an interior wall, hitting a mirror and a nightstand next to a bed. Earlier that month, shots were fired at people standing outside of a Barbara Drive home.

The latest report of gunfire included several shots reported at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday in the area of Bennett Valley Road and Grand Avenue near the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

In that case one Bennett Valley Road caller reported having a bullet hole in their apartment wall, Santa Rosa police said.

Officers searched the area and found one shell casing in the street, but no sign of those responsible, officials said.

Several residents of homes and apartments along Moorland Avenue said gunfire was a regular sound in the neighborhood.

A resident of the Carrillo Place apartments for 10 years, Stanley Davidson, 55, said he heard someone firing what sounded like a “high-powered weapon” three weeks ago. Afterward he heard a helicopter circling above. On Tuesday afternoon, he stepped outside after hearing the shots. Davidson said he feels comfortable in the neighborhood and assumes at least some of the gunfire is from people shooting into the air to test their guns.

“I think they’re just checking out the guns to see if they fire,” Davidson said.

That theory was echoed by several other residents. A woman who declined to give her name said she has heard gunfire nearly every day since she moved into the area about six months ago.

Anyone with information about the Moorland Avenue case can call the Sheriff’s Office tip line at 565-2185. Callers may remain anonymous.

You can reach Staff Writers Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com and Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com.