Date: 4/14/2008

SUSPECT ARRESTED - Case: 08-03556

Type of Incident:                    Assault with a deadly weapon – Attempt homicide

Location:                                Green Valley Rd at Amesti Rd, Watsonville

Date/Time of Occurrence:     4/13/2008        1834 hours

Suspect information:              Suspect #1: Natalie Gonzales HFA, 5/31/1985

                                                Suspect #2:  Withheld pending arrest.

Victims:                                   Three Hispanic males, all 20 years of age.

Description of Incident:

Early Sunday evening, 4/13/2008, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a report of a shooting on Green Valley Road in Watsonville.  At the scene deputies found a wrecked green BMW sedan with three occupants and a white GMC truck with two occupants that had overturned.  Witnesses told deputies’ a third vehicle, a black Escalade style pick-up truck, had fled the scene with a male driver and a female passenger.  In addition to the two wrecked vehicles at the scene, deputies found two of the three men in the BMW suffering from gunshot wounds and the two occupants of the overturned truck were injured in the collision.  Officers from the California Highway Patrol and the Watsonville Police Department assisted Sheriff’s Deputies at the scene with traffic control, accident investigation and contacting of witnesses. 

The driver of the BMW sustained a life threatening gunshot wound to the head and was flown by air ambulance to a Bay Area Trauma Center.  The second shooting victim, the front passenger of the BMW, sustained a leg wound and was treated locally.  The remaining accident victims sustained minor injuries and were also treated locally. 

In the initial investigation, Sheriff’s Deputies learned that a verbal altercation had occurred between the occupants of the BMW and the occupants of the black Escalade truck.  The argument turned into a chase and the BMW followed the Escalade truck as it was traveling northbound on Green Valley Road at Airport Blvd.  As the two vehicles approached Amesti Rd. the driver of the Escalade truck began shooting at the occupants of the BMW.  The BMW lost control and crossed into oncoming traffic, causing a southbound truck (the white GMC) to leave the roadway in an attempt to avoid collision.  The southbound GMC truck overturned on Green Valley Rd.  The BMW crossed Green Valley Rd, hit a curb line and came to rest on Amesti Rd.   The black Escalade truck was last seen fleeing northbound on Green Valley Rd.

Within minutes of the shooting, a California Fish and Game Warden located the black Escalade type truck that had fled the scene. The Warden made enforcement stop on the truck with the assistance of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.  Suspect Natalie Gonzalez was detained and later interviewed by Detectives.  Eventually, detectives learned that Natalie was the former girlfriend of the BMW driver and that the two have two young children.  Natalie gave conflicting statements and refused to cooperate in the investigation.  Additionally, shell casing were found in the truck Natalie was driving and those casings matched evidence found at the shooting scene.  Natalie was arrested late Sunday night and booked in the county jail for attempted homicide and weapons violations.

After working late into the night, Sheriff’s Detectives have tentatively identified the shooter and driver of the Escalade truck.  As part of this ongoing investigation Sheriff’s Detectives are seeking an arrest warrant for the shooter.  At this time the shooter’s name and information will not be released.

The vehicles seized as part of the investigation are being processed by Sheriff’s CSI Detectives.  Sheriff’s Detectives are still investigating details surrounding this incident and encourage anyone with additional information about this case to call the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office at one of the numbers below:

Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Investigation Division: (831) 454-2311    Mon-Fri 8am-5pm

Anonymous Tip Line: (831) 454-2847                                    24 hours

Sheriff’s Dispatch: (831) 471-1121                                         24 hours

Prepared by: Lieutenant Phil Wowak, Sheriff’s Investigation Division