Shooting may have been gang-related retaliation

Police seek suspects in early-morning drive-by shooting

Terry Hankins Two men stopped in front of this home on the 1000 block of Santa Clara Lane and shot at least 20 rounds into the house and this car parked in the driveway. Zoom Photo

Residents in a quiet eastside neighborhood are reacting with alarm and demanding action be taken to evict a family after an urban-style shooting shattered the tranquility of their peaceful community early Tuesday morning.

Police said that shortly after midnight, a car pulled up in front of a residence on the 1000 block of Santa Clara Lane, and an occupant of the vehicle stepped out with a rifle and fired more than 20 rounds into the house and a vehicle parked in the driveway.

Six people were in the house, including two infants, but no one was hurt.

By noon Tuesday, residents were already circulating a petition calling for the residents living in the rental home to be removed from the neighborhood.

“This is Pleasantville to us,” said Kristine Floyd, one of the petition organizers. “Everyone looks out for one another. My grandmother has lived here since the 1970s, and we’ve never had anything like this.”

Joe Vasco, who lives about a block from where the shooting occurred, agreed. “We haven’t had anything this bad happen here since a man killed his wife when I was just a kid.”

The six people who were in the house included a 2-year-old; a 7-month old; two older adults, a man and a woman; and two young men.

Neighbors say the young men, Ronal Bonilla, 20, and his 16-year-old brother were involved in an altercation that resulted in a stabbing and the arrest of both on June 30.

According to police, the brothers reacted after a group of people had thrown rocks at the home. In the fight that followed, Bonilla allegedy cut one man so badly that he was taken to an undisclosed trauma center. Police said his brother struck the vehicle used by the rock throwers with a baseball bat.

That vehicle was a silver late-model Nissan Altima. The vehicle used in this week’s shooting was described as a silver compact sedan.

Police didn’t comment on a possible gang connection in the shooting incident, but called the earlier fight and stabbing “possibly gang related.”

Ken White, who lives next door to where the shooting occurred, said the two violent incidents weren’t the only problems caused by residents in the home.

“They have parties almost every Friday night,” he said. “They get so loud you can’t sleep. We’ve had boys running in the street at 3 or 4 in the morning.”

He said the shots woke him up, but he wasn’t certain what he was hearing. “I heard the last half dozen or so shots, but it being so close of the Fourth of July I didn’t grasp at first whether they were shots or fireworks.”

White has lived in his home for 35 years. “This is a quiet neighborhood. They are all good people. Mostly everyone knows everyone. A lot of us have raised our kids in the neighborhood and now have grandkids.”

A man who asked to be identified only as Rick lives almost directly across the street from where the shooting occurred. He said he thought someone was pounding on his walls.

“I didn’t know it was a shooting until I looked out and saw the police and the people out front,” he explained.

He said he has come out of his house to find broken wine bottles in the street.

“This is a very nice neighborhood. I hate to think this kind of trouble can happen in a neighborhood like this.”

“It’s scary,” said Charlotte, who asked that her last name not be used. “This is terrible. People walk their kids to school (Miwok Elementary) right past that house.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our neighborhood before.”

(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)