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Gunshots reported; no shooter found during search of house
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Rob Varela / Star staff Members of Santa Paula's SWAT team and rescue personnel gather on Acacia Road during the search for a man suspected of firing a handgun.
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More from County NewsSanta Paula became the site of a traffic-stopping crime scene Sunday afternoon after police received several calls that someone was firing a handgun on Harvard Boulevard.
A man described as carrying a black handgun was seen by several people leaving Harvard Boulevard and heading down Acacia Road, Santa Paula Police Chief Stephen MacKinnon said.
Police were told that he had entered a house in the 300 block of Acacia Road. "We had reliable information he was in the house," MacKinnon said. "Witnesses saw the person in the house."
The house was barricaded and a special response team, ambulance, mobile command post vehicle, fire engine, armored vehicle called a dragoon and two snipers on a neighboring rooftop were on hand to assist. Altogether, MacKinnon estimated that 20 to 25 people were working the scene.
Acacia Road was closed to residents who weren't already on their properties, and traffic on Harvard slowed as drivers gawked.
The first call came in about 1:15 p.m. About 4:45 p.m., the group packed up and left, finding the house empty.
"We assume he just left," MacKinnon said of the man.
Standing among the onlookers, Tammy Edwardson said her daughter and a friend live in the house. She said she was not surprised when police found no one inside.
"Everybody was at the mall," Edwardson said. "The house was locked up."
Police were unable to determine where the gunshot rounds hit but are certain that a gun was fired, MacKinnon said.
No one was injured.
Posted by calibaby1978 on December 17, 2007 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
He must have been somewhere around there if they had the snippers and the armored truck out Hopefully the will catch the a**hole for trying to prove himself to nobody.
Posted by shaver_one on December 17, 2007 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
These days, it seems, snipers are 'rule of thumb'.
Any description of the guy?
Posted by del on December 17, 2007 at 2:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Two sad indictments upon our society. The obvious one concerning some idiot with a firearm and ""Everybody was at the mall."
Posted by calibaby1978 on December 17, 2007 at 7:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I noticed that there was nobody on the back side of the houses so he could of jumped over the fence. And the commit that the home owner was is so stupi because anybody can get into the house if they really want to without anyone noticing.
Posted by spinfo69 on January 16, 2008 at 9:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
what a sad police department jumping the the gun again.
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