2 hurt in Santa Rosa drive-by shooting

Two suspects are being sought in connection with a late Friday drive-by shooting in Santa Rosa that left two men injured, police said.

The shooting took place in the 900 block of West Eighth Street in one of more than 20 circular cul de sacs that dot the neighborhood just west of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

Officers responded to the scene about 11:45 p.m. after 911 calls about a shooting, but found only shell casings there, Santa Rosa Police Lt. Chris Mahurin said Saturday. However, shortly after, police were alerted by a Santa Rosa hospital that two male gunshot victims had been dropped off there, he said.

From witness accounts, it is believed that a group of people were standing in the street when a car drove up, and two men got out and started firing at them, Mahurin said. The assailants then got back in the car and drove away.

Police have no further descriptions of the suspects or the vehicle, Mahurin said, and are still trying to locate additional witnesses. Police have also not yet been able to interview the two victims, who are expected to survive, he said.

No further information was immediately available about the victims.

“We do believe, based on the initial investigation, that it was gang related,” Mahurin said.

The same neighborhood was badly rattled by a 2019 gang-related shooting at nearby Jacobs Park that left four people, including an 11-year-old boy, injured. The park, located next to the elementary school and between West Ninth and West Eighth streets, is about a block and a half from Friday’s incident.

In that case, Edward Beltran, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident but charged as an adult, pleaded guilty in October to one count each of attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic rifle and mayhem.

Also arrested in connection with that shooting were Beltran’s brother, Michael Beltran, and Lukas Cortina, both of Santa Rosa. In February 2021, Michael Beltran was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to assault with a semi-automatic gun. Cortina was convicted of being an accessory.

In similar violence this year in Santa Rosa: a high schooler was injured in a January drive-by shooting near Bellevue Avenue; and what police called a gang-related, targeted shooting at Montecito Boulevard and Brush Creek Road in February left one man injured; the suspect in that case was arrested this week.

In February, a man, Asante Vandyke, was killed and two others critically injured in an apparent fight between strangers on Mendocino Avenue that involved knives and guns. There have been three arrests in that case, and police are still searching for a fourth suspect, Louis Robert Campos, 38.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jeremyhay