A pair of juvenile suspects has been arrested in Stanislaus County in connection with a Monday night incident in which multiple shots were fired in a parking lot adjacent to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
The incident happened just after 9 pm Monday, as KSBW reports, and caused a brief panic and lockdown at the boardwalk. The Santa Cruz Police Department says that shots were "fired at the parking lot across from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk," but no injuries were reported.
Kamryn Main, a visitor to the boardwalk Monday night, tells the station, "We just got off of a ride and we saw people running. We were honestly freaking out, we didn't know why. People were hiding, mothers were clutching onto their children, so that was honestly pretty alarming."
After the shots were heard, police briefly locked down the area as the situation was assessed, which was followed by an evacuation of the boardwalk before its scheduled closing time.
Another witness who lives in Santa Cruz, Laura Albrecht, told KSBW, "With the rides and music and everything, it was just too loud to hear anything. And there were rides that were stopped up in the air with people until the lockdown was lifted."
The SCPD quickly made an arrest of two 17-year-old suspects in Ceres, California, a suburb of Modesto in Stanislaus County, with the help of the Ceres PD and the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, which operates the boardwalk.
The Santa Cruz Seaside Company issued a statement saying that the shooting incident stemmed from a fight between individuals in the parking lot across from the amusement park, and that the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk would be back open as normal on Tuesday and the rest of the week.
"We are grateful for the swift response of our security officers and local law enforcement," the company said in a statement.
The incident remains under investigation and the SCPD asks that anyone with information call their tip line at 831-420-5995.
Top image: Photo by Levi Meir Clancy
