Rohnert Park sandwich shop shooting suspect, victim ‘known to each other,’ police say

The shooting inside a Rohnert Park sandwich shop that injured a 16-year-old girl Sunday was preceded by some kind of dispute between the employee accused of firing the shot and four people who entered the store, another employee of the business said Monday.

Daniel Neal, Sourdough & Co.’s district manager, said security cameras captured the group — one of whom was the victim — as they walked into the Commerce Boulevard shop Sunday night.

The footage, he added, also shows one of the four recording on a cellphone as the other three appear to confront Jade Cutrer, the 19-year-old shop employee investigators believe is responsible for the shooting.

Authorities with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, saying the incident was “not a random act of violence,” confirmed Monday that the victim and Cutrer know each other. Officials did not elaborate.

An investigation into the shooting is ongoing and detectives are working to determine why Cutrer fired a gun or had one with her, RPDPS Deputy Chief Kevin Kilgore said Monday.

He added that he did not know anything about the group of people Neal said were captured on the shop’s surveillance video.

“I know that (detectives) were speaking to multiple witnesses,” he said, “but I don’t know who they have spoken with.”

Cutrer is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in the Sonoma County jail on suspicion of attempted murder, possession of a firearm without a serial number and child endangerment, according to Rohnert Park police.

She was arrested outside the store Sunday night by responding police officers who believe she was trying to flee. A firearm was recovered at the scene, officials said.

The victim, who is a resident of Rohnert Park, remained hospitalized Monday. Authorities said her condition is stable.

Investigators believe Cutrer, who was working at the time, drew a gun and opened fire inside the store shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.

Neal, the district manager, declined to elaborate on the surveillance camera footage, saying he didn’t want to reveal too much because of the active police investigation.

Acknowledging that he was not present during the shooting, he added that the incident had nothing to do with that location of Sourdough & Co. or its parent company and that he was shocked that this took place inside a business.

“There’s children and there’s families here,” Neal said. “I just couldn’t believe that something like this happened.”

At 11 a.m. Monday, about the usual start of the lunchtime rush, there were few customers inside the Commerce Boulevard shop. From 11 a.m. to noon, about five people filed in, ordered their sandwiches or salads, and left.

Neal said he had expected there to be fewer people at the shop and he was disappointed by how the business came across because of the shooting.

“Unfortunately, our name got dragged through the mud and, as you can see, it’s lunch time,” he said, gesturing to a room without customers. “We should be slammed right now.”

A second employee, Callie Adams, 21, arrived at the shop before Neal could call her and tell her she didn’t have to work because he planned on covering the shifts alone.

She said she learned of the shooting after she arrived at work.

“I was definitely shocked,” she added.

Adams has been working at the shop since August and said its business fluctuates and that it was not unusual to have a morning with fewer people coming in.

She added that she feels safe in the shop.

“We just want to move past it as quickly as possible,” she said.

Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to contact Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety Detective Kevin Escher at 707-588-3542 and refer to Case #22-4496.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. Her Twitter is madi.smals.