2 Teens Arrested In Marin County, Police Say In Connection To April Shooting

NOVATO, CA — Novato Police Department detectives arrested two teens Tuesday for charges related to an April 9 shooting that happened near the Hamilton Safeway shopping center that left one person with a gunshot wound to his back, police said.

Early Tuesday morning, the San Rafael-Novato SWAT team helped NPD detectives serve two search warrants in the Bay Vista neighborhood of Hamilton in Novato. At the same time, Marin County probation officers searched multiple Southern Novato homes, police said.

As a result of the investigation, Novato officers said they arrested a 15-year-old and 16-year-old that they then booked into the Marin County Juvenile Hall for charges related to the shooting including attempted murder and participation in a criminal street gang.

Police said that evidence confirmed the shooting was targeted and gang related. Thanks to community tips, officers said they recovered the gun believed to be used in the shooting, which was a still-loaded, un-serialized “ghost gun,” near the scene.

On April 9, officers said they received a report at about 7:30 p.m. about a disturbance involving teens and a possible shooting near Nave Drive and State Access Road near the Safeway shopping center. Police said that the callers reported hearing multiple gunshots and a white car fleeing the scene into the Lanham Village neighborhood.

Officers said they found an 18-year-old man who had a nonlife-threatening gunshot wound to his back and he was transported to a local hospital.

Police said they discovered the white car nearby with multiple bullet holes.

Police sent out a shelter-in-place alert. Novato police and fire departments, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol helped in the investigation. Police K-9, a drone and a CHP helicopter also assisted in the search.