Woman wounded, man dead in Bodega Bay shooting

A man shot and wounded a woman Friday in Bodega Bay, firing from the front porch of a home as she fled, before he went back inside and turned the gun on himself in an apparent suicide, Sonoma County sheriff’s officials said.

The violent encounter unfolded at a Taylor Street home off Highway 1, where the man had tracked down a former girlfriend who was just granted a restraining order against him, authorities said. She had been staying in the coastal village with two friends, they said.

The man, who died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, briefly held the women hostage until they got away, fleeing the house through different doors and in different directions, officials said.

The woman he shot was a friend of his former girlfriend, and the injured woman remained under treatment at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in serious condition, Lt. Carlos Basurto said.

Sheriff’s officials did not identify the man, and said they had not yet notified his family. He and the women were from neighboring counties and visiting the area.

Much of the Bodega Bay neighborhood and surrounding area was locked down for about two hours, with some homes evacuated and businesses told to lock their doors and keep customers indoors. Authorities, meanwhile, came to the woman’s aid and searched for the gunman because it wasn’t immediately known if he had fled the house as well.

They spotted the man through a window, seated on a couch, sheriff’s officials said. He was pronounced dead just after 11 a.m.

The incident began sometime before 9 a.m. when the women were awakened by an intruder at the single-story home, Lt. Greg Miller said. The man had tracked his ex-girlfriend down, disregarding a judge’s order to stay away from her, sheriff’s officials said.

Armed with a shotgun, the man briefly held the women captive until “a fight ensued over the firearm,” and amid the scuffle all three women were able to run from the house, Miller said.

One woman was shot multiple times as she fled and was later found by deputies lying in the street in front of the house, unconscious, authorities said. The other women escaped to nearby businesses.

One woman burst into the Bodega Harbor Inn office, manager Lisa Scott said.

“I was standing in the office getting ready to do morning reports. It was 9 o’clock, and this woman came running in and she said, ‘There’s a man down the street, he has a gun,’ ” Scott said.

Scott said she called 911, handed the phone to her husband and tried to comfort the woman, who told her she had escaped out a back door and jumped over a fence.

A second woman ran to Diekmann’s Bay Store, where another 911 call was made.

Sheriff’s officials said a witness reported hearing several shots outside, and an additional shot from inside the home.

With a shooter possibly still at large, the responding deputies carried the shooting victim down the street on a backboard, away from the home to a safer location on Highway 1 where firefighters took over her care.

A Bodega Bay Fire ambulance team took the woman to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Fire Capt. Dave Bynum said a helicopter had been called but was not able to fly because of the heavy fog.

Deputies and personnel from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, California State Parks, the CHP and other law enforcement agencies began searching the neighborhood, evacuating some residents and telling others to stay inside. The officers surrounded the house on Taylor Street with their weapons drawn and ordered the man to exit, but received no response.

Tactical deputies from the SWAT team eventually edged close to the home and through a window saw the alleged shooter seated on a couch, Miller said. The man appeared to be dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with a shotgun nearby, Miller said.

Sheriff’s officials said they would not release any of the women’s names because they were victims of domestic violence and have requested confidentiality.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.