Paul Moreno-Gutierres, 18, was booked into Sonoma County Jail for attempted murder as well as attempted murder in furtherance of a criminal street gang, Det. Sgt. Tim Duke of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department Violent Crimes Investigation Unit said in a statement released Saturday.
The fight, which occurred in Lucas Avenue’s 18000 block around 2 a.m., sent one teenager to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after one assailant hit him with a garden hoe.
“I don’t think my son ever saw it coming,” the victim’s mother said Tuesday morning. “This was a hit from behind.”
By the mother’s account, her two sons, age 23 and 17, had returned earlier in the evening from a trip to Vacaville and were standing outside with a 15-year-old friend who was waiting for a ride home when beer bottles, cans and shouted gang slogans came flying out of the darkness.
As the case is still under investigation, Duke couldn’t comment on particulars when contacted Tuesday. He expressed sympathy for the victim’s family but said deputies talked to a variety of people following Saturday’s incident.
“We had independent witnesses, as well as other people who came forward with statements who were indirectly involved in the crime itself,” Duke said. “My heart goes out to her, and her son particularly. But I feel comfortable that we have both sides (of the story).”
A witness at the scene told deputies that a light-colored Cadillac sedan left the area right after the fight. At 2:18 a.m., a two-person California Highway Patrol unit stopped a white Cadillac sedan traveling westbound on Bennett Valley Road toward Santa Rosa. Sheriff’s deputies also responded, and Duke said information from those in the car led to Moreno-Gutierres being taken without incident to sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Rosa where he was interrogated and booked.
Duke said physical evidence was also found in the Cadillac that connected it to the crime scene. He would not elaborate beyond saying it was not the assault weapon.
The victim’s mother said her son remained in stable condition Tuesday, and was to be recognized during a Mass on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at St. Francis Solano Church.