20 gunshots miss Petaluma family

PETALUMA — A gang shooting that rocked a quiet Petaluma neighborhood early Tuesday morning was a “zero tolerance event” that police are investigating to the fullest extent, Mayor Pam Torliatt said Wednesday.

“We are putting our top resources into ensuring these people engaging in this type of activity are found,” Torliatt said. “This is absolutely unacceptable behavior to occur within our city.”

Her comments followed the shooting on Santa Clara Lane in which gunmen sprayed a house with at least 20 bullets. No one was injured, although at least six people were at home at the time, including two toddlers.

So far, police have announced no arrests and have not given any statements or updates on the case Wednesday.

The shooting occured shortly after midnight Tuesday, outraging a neighborhood now spurred to action.

“It’s frightening that the place where I grew up and once called Pleasantville is becoming so scary,” said Kristine Floyd, who was asleep about four houses away when the fusillade erupted shortly after midnight. “I’ve never felt this way.”

Bullet holes pocked the front of the ranch-style house on Santa Clara Lane and the rear window of a car in the driveway was shattered. Shots tore through the living room, hitting a television and a hallway mirror.

The volley apparently came from a man with a rifle who jumped from a silver car that pulled up in front of the house around midnight, witnesses told police.

Investigators said it was unclear how many people were firing weapons.

“It was hella fast,” said one of the home’s occupants, Ronal Bonilla, 20, who said he dove to the living room floor as bullets whizzed over his head. “Like seven seconds.”

Police said the shooting might have been retaliation for a gang-related stabbing involving Bonilla and a younger brother about three weeks ago.

In that case, a group of men taunted the brothers outside the house, and one of the men was hospitalized with a stab wound, Sgt. Jim Stephenson said.

Bonilla was arrested and released, according to court records. No charges have been filed because the investigation is ongoing, Stephenson said.

“A few people in the house have ties to gangs,” Stephenson said. “This might be retaliatory.”

He said police were working several leads.

Neighbors on the normally quiet street where people leave their doors unlocked at night said they are shocked by growing violence since the family moved in earlier this year.

Some called for their immediate eviction, and one said they had heard the landlord, who also lives on the street, had already issued a 30-day eviction notice. The landlord declined to comment.

Many residents along Santa Clara Lane have known each other since the subdivision was built in the 1970s. The closeness even extends to shared vacations for some families. In that environment, the sudden exposure to violence has been especially threatening.

Ken White, who lives next door, said police often come to the house to handle disturbances. He said he’s seen at least four people taken away in handcuffs since January.

After being awakened by shots early Tuesday, he wasn’t surprised to see about 10 police cars parked outside, he said.

“It’s been nothing but trouble since those folks moved in,” he said.

For Floyd, who grew up on the street and was sleeping in her parents’ motorhome, the shots sounded like they were from an automatic weapon, though police said they could not confirm the type of gun used.

Floyd recalled the night of the stabbing, saying she returned from a San Francisco Giants game to find her neighborhood blocked off by police cars. When she finally got through, she said she saw a trail of blood along the asphalt.

Tuesday’s event prompted her to action. She was collecting signatures on letters to the Police Department and possibly elected officials saying that what was happening around the corner from Miwok Valley Elementary School was unacceptable. She said she wanted the family removed.

Eight people were home at the time of the shooting, according to Gabriel Bonilla, 16. They included his brother, Ronal, their mother, a sister, a brother-in-law, and two nieces, one 2 years old and the other 7 months old.

Police said there were just six people in the house.

Gabriel Bonilla said he was listening to music in the converted garage when shots rang out. He ran into the kitchen and got down on the floor, he said.

Everyone else was asleep in the bedrooms except his brother, who he said was nearly shot as he stood by the front door.

“I didn’t know what was happening,” Bonilla said.

He said he is affiliated with a norteño gang and had been in a fight with rivals. He said he didn’t see who fired on his house.

“They got hurt the last time,” he said as he fingered a bullet hole in a mirror. His 2-year-old niece sat nearby.