Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office press release: 

On 9-29-2016 around 5:46 AM the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center received a cellular 911 telephone call.  An exact location of the caller was not established.  A male caller advised that he’d fled his property, after being confronted by up to 7 armed males.  The caller suspected the persons were there to steal marijuana from him.  The caller stated the men shot his wife in the stomach and he suspected they may have shot his 16 year old son as well but he’d lost track of where his son was, suspecting the armed assailants might be chasing his son into the woods.

Approximately 30 Officers from Mendocino County Patrol Division, California Highway Patrol (CHP), Cal Fire Prevention Officers, and the Mendocino County Inter-agency SWAT Team responded to the call.  Once in the area officers were unable to locate the reporting party, any potential gunshot victims, or suspects.  Officers did find the possible crime scene but evidence of persons actually being shot was not found.  There were indications of recent firearms use present and several witnesses in the area reported hearing shots being fired, during what sounded like a possible verbal dispute, around 5:30 AM that morning. 

CHP Air Unit out of Redding was called to assist and a helicopter responded to assist with the search of the area.  By noon Officers called off the search after being contacted by an individual who stated there was no one shot a the location, no one was injured, and the suspects had fled.  The individual stated he did not know the identify of the suspects in this case. 

The case was turned over to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Investigations Unit.  Anyone with information related to this case is requested to contact the Tip Line at 707-234-2100.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank Cal Fire, California Highway Patrol, Laytonville Fire and Ambulance, and Veri Health Ambulance for their assistance on this call.