Three youths held in Santa Rosa drive-by shootings

Three juveniles with ties to a gang have been arrested for allegedly firing into the homes of three rival gang members in Santa Rosa within a 25-minute period, police said.

The suspects, a 15-year-old boy and two 16-year-old boys, were all on felony probation at the time they fired into the homes early in the morning on Dec. 2, authorities said. Their names were withheld because of their ages.

The break came when a Sonoma County juvenile probation officer and a Santa Rosa police school resource officer searched the home of the 15-year-old, who had not been attending school, and found evidence tying him to the case, police said.

Police impounded a Honda Civic belonging to one of the 16-year-old boys that was driven by the 15-year-old in the drive-by shootings, authorities said.

A search of several other homes yielded four illegal firearms, including a loaded handgun on a bed and three rifles hidden in a ceiling crawlspace, police said.

The youths are being held at the Juvenile Justice Center on suspicion of attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and gang-related allegations.

Although all three residences were occupied and damaged by the gunfire, no one was hit, police said.

The series of shootings began at 12:29 a.m. when a home on the 1300 block of Rutledge Avenue, east of Highway 101, was sprayed by gunfire.

Several minutes later, someone shot up a home on the 200 block of Earle Street, on the other side of the highway and less than a mile away.

The last incident happened on the 1700 block of Hoen Avenue, about two miles from Earle Street, at 12:54 a.m.

Although bullets passed through front walls and windows and lodged in the interior walls of the homes, “remarkably, none of the residents were struck by bullets,” officials said.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee

Photo: Google Maps Three juveniles with ties to a gang have been arrested for...



