Gunmen spray car parked outside Vallejo home — 1 dies, 3 wounded

USA, New York State, New York City, Crime scene barrier tape USA, New York State, New York City, Crime scene barrier tape Photo: Tetra Images Photo: Tetra Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Gunmen spray car parked outside Vallejo home — 1 dies, 3 wounded 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A pair of gunmen sprayed a parked car in a residential Vallejo neighborhood with bullets Friday afternoon, killing one man and wounding three people — including a child, police said.

The gunshots erupted at about 3:50 p.m. after the assailants approached a black Monte Carlo in a driveway on Porter Street, witnesses said. They opened fire and then apparently fled in a maroon sedan.

Two men were in or alongside the Monte Carlo, and one was killed in the barrage, police said. The other was wounded. Stray bullets from the shooting tore into the house at the end of the driveway and injured a woman in her hand and a 9-year-old boy in his cheek, officials said.

The three survivors were taken to area hospitals, where they are expected to survive.

Brad Flaherty, 35, lives two doors down from the shooting scene and said he was watching an “Elmo” children’s show with his 2-year-old son in the living room when he heard the gunfire.

“I grabbed my son and dove onto the floor ... and crawled over near the fridge,” Flaherty said. “It was quiet in the street, and all of a sudden it was a battle zone.”

Flaherty said he was surprised but not shocked at the burst of violence.

“We’re in Vallejo,” he said. “You kind of learn what gunshots sound like.”

Vallejo Police Capt. John Whitney said there were conflicting reports from witnesses about whether the shooters were walking or driving when they opened fire, and that their method of fleeing was also unclear.

This was the fourth homicide of the year in Vallejo, and the boy’s injuries make it particularly poignant, he said.

“We all have children,” the captain said. “We don’t like to see children hurt at all.”

Investigators said they did not know if the victims and the attackers knew each other.

One woman who said she was the aunt of the wounded boy and woman sobbed at the scene, expressing bewilderment at the violence.

“I have no idea, none at all,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “That’s why this is so shocking. My family does not live that kind of life.”

Neighbors said the family who lived at the house where the shooting happened was reserved and had lived there about two years.

The block where the shooting happened is in a stretch of modest stucco homes on the southwest part of Vallejo, across from Mare Island. It was described as having been fairly calm until recent months, when gunfire has been heard sporadically nearby — including one burst that resulted in victims just two blocks from Friday’s attack scene.

“I don’t know what could have prompted it (the latest shooting). We have no idea,” said neighbor Lisa Tantriella, 49. She added, however, that “lately things have definitely been heating up around here.”

Chronicle staff writer Kimberly Veklerov contributed to this report.

Kevin Fagan and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: kfagan@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com.