Teen wounded in gang-related shooting at Santa Rosa area park

A teen wounded by gunfire in a suspected gang-related shooting at a southwest Santa Rosa-area park Thursday night remained hospitalized Friday afternoon as detectives investigated the attack.

On Friday morning, a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team served a search warrant at a home at the 1200 block of Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa in connection with the shooting.

A cadre of deputies outfitted in army green tactical gear, an armored vehicle and a handful of plain-clothed deputies surrounded the light blue home during the search. Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Juan Valencia declined to provide information about why the home was searched or if anything related to the shooting was located inside.

No arrests had been made by Friday afternoon, Valencia said.

“Detectives are actively working the case right now and they’re trying to figure out who was involved in the shooting,” Valencia said.

The shooting occurred around 10:50 p.m. Thursday, when deputies were dispatched to the Andy Lopez Unity Park on Moorland Avenue in response to several reports of gunshots in the area, Valencia said.

When they arrived, they found the 18-year-old victim lying on the ground in the park and gave him first aid until an ambulance took him to a local hospital.

Investigators learned the victim was accompanied by a group of people who were drinking at the park Thursday night when a dark-colored car pulled up alongside the group. People inside the vehicle then began yelling gang slogans at the group and at least one person in the vehicle fired several rounds in their direction before the car sped off.

Detectives suspect there were at least two people inside the car, one driving and at least one other on the passenger’s side who fired several rounds from a gun, Valencia said.

The 18-year-old victim, who is expected to survive, was the only person wounded in the attack, Valencia said.

People in the group that accompanied the wounded teen told deputies they did not recognize the people inside the vehicle, he added.

Crime scene investigators and the department’s violent crimes unit were dispatched to the park after the shooting, where the search for evidence continued into Friday afternoon, Valencia said. Investigators also canvassed the area in search of surveillance video that may have captured the crime or the suspect vehicle, Valencia said.

The Sheriff’s Office asks anyone with information about the shooting to call its dispatch center at 707-565-2121.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.