Local police officers had a couple of big days last week, as they tracked down three teenage boys suspected of attacking another 19-year-old male near East and Mill streets, just a couple blocks east of the roundabout, around 6pm on Tuesday, April 15. Cops say they were called to Healdsburg Hospital that night after the assault victim landed in our local emergency room (with non-life-threatening injuries, thankfully) — then went on a wild goose chase to track down whomever put him there. Surveillance cameras near the scene of the crime caught the suspects in action, according to police officials. “During the physical fight, it appeared that a firearm was used to strike the victim multiple times,” police said in a Facebook post. “Through numerous hours of investigative efforts, officers were able to positively identify three of the juvenile suspects involved.” And by the next day — Wednesday, April 16 — officers say they “located and arrested all three suspects involved in the altercation” and even found what appeared to be the gun in question in one of the boys’ waistbands. (Scroll for photo.) More details from the Press Democrat:
About 10:45 a.m., police arrested a 16-year-old boy on North Street. As an officer tried to handcuff him, he tried to run but was quickly caught, [Healdsburg Police Chief Matt Jenkins] said.
Officers found a loaded, unregistered handgun in the teen’s waistband. Jenkins said police also received information that he may have brought the gun onto a school campus outside Healdsburg, though he declined to name the school, citing an ongoing investigation.
He was arrested on suspicion of eight charges, including assault with a firearm, possessing a gun in a school zone and battery causing serious bodily injury.
The other two teens, a 15 and 17-year-old boy, were arrested just before lunch time at Healdsburg High School, Jenkins said. Police worked with the Healdsburg Unified School District to get the students out of any classrooms before they were detained.
One of the teenagers was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a firearm, being a minor in possession of a firearm, and aiding and abetting — or helping someone else commit a crime. The other faces charges of battery causing serious bodily injury, and aiding and abetting.
Jenkins said the incident doesn’t appear to be random, and police believe they’ve detained everyone involved.
Police are now investigating what might have caused the fight in the first place. Chief Jenkins tells the PD that this process can be slow, due to “state regulations on questioning minors,” and says that it would be “premature and inappropriate to speculate” about the cause at this stage. Meanwhile, two of San Francisco’s main news outlets — the San Francisco Chronicle and SFist — took note of the Healdsburg assault and lumped it in with a much-more-grave teen stabbing at a Santa Rosa bus stop earlier that same Tuesday, for shock-and-awe headlines like “7 youths arrested in Wine Country after separate assaults” and “Seven Teens Arrested in Sonoma County After Two Separate Deplorable Attacks This Week,” respectively.
For more on the Healdsburg attack and other recent crime reports here in town, see the police log in the latest issue of the Trib. (Cause really, who doesn’t flip religiously to the police log each week?)
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Healdsburg Tribune, called Healdsburg Today. Subscribe here!
