No arrests two weeks after Santa Rosa’s first homicide of 2018

An investigation into Santa Rosa’s first homicide of 2018 - a gunfight between rival gang members that killed one and wounded another - remains hampered by limited cooperation from people involved in the confrontation, according to Santa Rosa police.

While there are multiple suspects, no arrests have been made two weeks after the ?March 29 nighttime shootout on the western edge of Santa Rosa, in front of a home well known to police for prior gang activity.

“We’re dealing with a lack of cooperation, but we continue to follow up with substantial leads,” said Sgt. Tommy Isachsen, who supervises gang investigations.

Police officials have worried the fatal shooting would result in retaliation, yet so far nothing overt has occurred.

While gang violence has decreased in the city over the past decade, “violence equals respect” for many members of criminal street gangs, Lt. John Cregan said.

None of the four Santa Rosa homicides in 2017 involved gang members, he said. The last gang-related killing occurred in February 2016 when Reggie Burt, a known Crip, was shot and killed outside his apartment in east Santa Rosa.

In the most recent shooting, members of a gang drove up to the Lemur Street home in a Nissan Sentra about 8:30 p.m. to carry out a drive-by shooting, Cregan said. A confrontation with rivals standing outside erupted into gunfire, with at least one person in the car and one person at the home exchanging shots.

Juan Angel Rivera, 19, of Santa Rosa, was in the car. A bullet struck his head, and he later died.

Police haven’t identified another 19-year-old, who was standing outside the house and wounded in the arm.

“We’re still working to identify everyone in the vehicle and who was at the house and who the shooters were,” Cregan said.

“This is a difficult investigation. There are gang members involved on both sides of the fight and neither one of those sides are overwhelmingly cooperative with the police ?investigation.”

Police found bullet holes in the Sentra the following day in the 4300 block of Stony Point Road, Cregan said. Cars parked in front of the Lemur Street house also had multiple bullet holes.

Both victims were taken by friends to Sutter Santa Rosa Hospital, which was subsequently put on lockdown while they were transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, police said.

Detectives found four guns during the investigation but still are looking into whether those weapons were used in the shooting, Isachsen said.

Police are working to determine who fired the shots, Cregan said. Police are only confirming that at least two people fired multiple rounds.

In December, detectives searched the Lemur Road house during a probation investigation of a gang member. They found a loaded semi-automatic handgun and a high-capacity magazine in the subject’s car under the driver seat, Isachsen said.

Samuel Cedric Potter Jr., 18, was taken into custody on suspicion of violating probation and multiple gun charges including having a loaded gun, a concealed gun and having the ammunition.

Isachsen said Potter was at the home the night of the slaying but declined to say whether he was involved in the confrontation.

The shooting wasn’t believed to be retaliation from an earlier event, Cregan said.

“But there appears to be ongoing rivalry between two warring crime street gangs,” he said. “We are very fearful there could be future retaliation based off this incident.”

Workers with California Youth Outreach, a violence prevention nonprofit funded with city tax dollars, have reached out to people “affected by the tragedy,” said Program Manager Gustavo Mendoza.

“Our community is a lot less violent than it was when I was a kid,” said Mendoza, a Santa Rosa native. “But one life is still too many.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport. You ?can reach Staff Writer Nick Rahaim at 707-521-5203 or nick.rahaim@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @nrahaim.