WATSONVILLE >> Police detectives are investigating a Sunday-night shooting that left no known injuries in a Freedom Boulevard shopping center parking lot.
Watsonville police officers were called shortly before 8:30 p.m. to the 1700 block of Freedom Boulevard for reports of shots fired in the area between two groups. While the interaction, involving a group of three on foot versus four people in a vehicle, was caught on security cameras, all the participants had fled before police arrival, according to Watsonville Police Department Sgt. Jarrod Pisturino. One juvenile who police believe served as a lookout for the shooter’s group was arrested, he said.
Detectives located casings from the shooting but no injuries were reported, Pisturino said. The case remained under investigation Monday afternoon, he said.
Sunday’s shooting came less than 48 hours after residents began reporting the sounds of alleged shots fired around 10:30 p.m. Friday in the area of Watsonville High School. Officials briefly placed the remaining students, staff and parents on campus on lockdown after a Watsonville vs. Santa Cruz High football game, though the noise apparently originated a block away, in an alleyway between the 200 block of Maple Avenue and Bockius Street, according to a Watsonville police social media post. No victims were identified in that case and a large group of teenagers reportedly was seen running away just before the explosions were heard.
According to Pisturino, investigators believe that the noise may have originated from fireworks, rather than a shooting, as they found no shell casings and there were no reported injuries.