A man who was reportedly shot on Jan. 31 in Santa Maria is a convicted gang member who shot and wounded himself, said Detective Paul Flores with the city’s police department.
Initially, the department received a report of an 18-year-old man who checked himself into Marian Regional Medical Center after getting shot in the calf in the area of Cook and Western streets, according to Santa Maria Police Department Lt. Marc Schneider.
It wasn’t clear at first if the man shot himself, since he was sitting in a car at the time, Schneider said, although initially there was “no evidence that it was self-inflicted.”
After reviewing evidence, detectives determined that Bobby Romero-Torrez, 18, of Santa Maria, shot himself. Police identified Guy Parris, 20, of Santa Maria as a witness to the shooting.
The same night he was shot, Romero-Torrez was booked into jail for violating the terms of his parole. On Feb. 8, he was booked into jail again on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm with an additional gang enhancement.
