The Paso Robles Police Department responded to reports of shots fired over the weekend, marking the sixth shooting since January.
Police say that when officers responded to a report of a gunshot in the 3100 block of Spring Street early Saturday morning, they found a parked vehicle with a broken windshield. There was a passenger in the front seat unharmed.
While investigating at the scene, officers heard another shot go off in the 3400 block of Spring Street.
“The second shot was in the location in which the suspect was last seen running," Sgt. Steve Boyett said. "Based upon time and distance, we believe both of them are related.”
Of the six shootings the Paso Robles Police Department has responded to since January, the majority have occurred north of 24th Street.
“It's very scary," said Heather Murphy, Paso Robles resident. "But I don't believe that it's people that actually live here because everybody's hard-working people around here, you know? So I don't think they live here.”
Sgt. Boyett is confident the two shootings this weekend are connected, and they have video surveillance to help in the investigation. However, there are no leads connecting the previous shootings this year.
“We have some investigative leads and we're following up on those leads as of right now," Sgt. Boyett said. "And we feel pretty confident that we will be able to at least identify a person, but we're just not willing to share those details at this point.”
Paso Robles resident Patrice Wood has lived in the same area for seven years and said she's seen a rise in shootings over the past few years.
“You know, it seems like over here lately, yes, I will say," Wood said. "I heard about one just on the same block that I live and then this one right here. And then of course, there was the shooting over at J&J’s. [Yeah] it's a little a little unnerving.”
“These reports are extremely difficult to navigate because sometimes when we have a victim, that victim oftentimes is not very cooperative with the police," Sgt Boyett said. "And the biggest leads that we get are electronic data nowadays and talking to the community members, talking to people on the street and investigating any leads that we can drum up that way.”
The police department describes the shooter from this past weekend as a slender man wearing jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt. They're asking anyone with information to contact the Paso Robles Police Department at (805) 237-6464 or Crime Stoppers at (805) 549-STOP to leave an anonymous tip.
