Santa Maria Sun / News

A Labor Day shooting in Orcutt park leaves one dead

BY JEREMY THOMAS

A local man was in county jail Sept. 4 after he allegedly shot two family members, killing one and critically injuring the other, at a Labor Day gathering at Orcutt Community Park, law enforcement officials said.

According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Mark Williams, deputies responded to reports of multiple shots fired at the park in Rice Ranch after 6 p.m. When they arrived on the scene, deputies found an older male, believed to be the suspect’s father or stepfather, dead. A woman was wounded by gunfire. She remained in critical condition as of press time.

The suspect reportedly left the park in a black Jeep, which was later found abandoned on the Stowell Road overpass by Santa Maria Police Department officers. He appeared at Marian Regional Medical Center shortly thereafter, for what authorities described as “an unrelated medical issue.” Law enforcement officers arrived at the hospital and took the suspect into custody without further incident, Williams said in a prepared statement.

The names and ages of the suspect and the two victims were immediately withheld, and the Sheriff’s Department was investigating the motive behind the shooting.