MENDOCINO Co., 4/3/20 — A man was shot in the back with his own gun, yesterday morning, by an unknown assailant near Leggett.
The victim sustained a non-life-threatening injury, but was nonetheless airlifted to a hospital. The alleged assailant fled into the nearby woods, and was described by the victim as a Hispanic man wearing a dark hoodie.
According to Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Captain Gregory Van Patten, the victim called 911 himself to report the crime and was walking around at the time that deputies arrived, after traveling from Willits.
The victim, who was also the homeowner and the reporting party, stated that he’d been away from his residence, but nearby, when he heard noise coming from his home. Upon returning to his house the homeowner found a man in his house and the two got into a confrontation, during which the other man manage to disarm the homeowner, wrest his gun from him, and then allegedly shoot him in the back. The suspect then fled into the woods, and the homeowner called authorities at around 9:38 a.m.
According to Van Patten the inciddnet occurred in around the 60,000 block of U.S. Route 101. He said that an investigation was ongoing and it was not clear if this had been an interrupted burglary, or some other kind of interpersonal confrontation.
Cal Fire and the California Highway Patrol also responded to the scene. MCSO deputies were in the area for some time searching for the alleged assailant, including with dogs.