Santa Rosa police arrest shooting suspect

Disguised with a long dark wig, a Santa Rosa man left his home early Monday but didn’t get far as several Santa Rosa police detectives waited nearby.

John Leonard Davenport, 66, was arrested about 1:20 a.m. Monday, suspected of firing a gun into a car and possibly into a home in his South Park neighborhood, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Terry Anderson said Tuesday.

Officers went to the neighborhood about 7 p.m. Sunday to investigate gunfire. One caller reported shots coming from the area of Davenport’s Grand Avenue home and a second caller thought gunfire was aimed at their Earle Street residence, Anderson said.

Two bullet holes were found in a car belonging to a woman who’d had a former relationship with Davenport, according to police. Officers set up around the man’s house in patrol cars, before giving way to detectives in unmarked cars.

Officers were awaiting a search warrant and ready to call the department SWAT team to help arrest the armed man, when he came outside in the wig, got into his car and drove away, Anderson said.

Davenport was stopped nearby and arrested on suspicion of firing a gun in a grossly negligent manner, stalking, being a felon with a gun and vandalism. A search of his home turned up undisclosed evidence supporting the charges, Anderson said.

Officers booked him into the Sonoma County Jail and he later was released after posting $30,000 bail.

-Randi Rossmann