A rivalry going back several years led to a shooting Saturday night and the arrest of a Santa Rosa gang member and his teenage girlfriend.
At just before 10 pm Saturday, March 22, a hail of gunfire struck a car with one man near the Santa Rosa Fire Station at Corporate Center Way near Circadian Way. Calls came into police reporting the gunfire and the sound of speeding vehicles near Fresno Avenue and Northpoint Parkway, a few blocks from the shooting. Officers found the 21-year-old victim in his car suffering from one bullet wound to the leg of the several that had struck the car. He told them that two people in another car had shot at him and sped away.
The assailants had apparently fled quickly, but fearing the car may have been seen at the shooting, ditched it a few blocks away. Police found the vehicle, but no suspects or weapons were located at the time. The car was impounded, while the gunshot victim was treated at a local hospital for what were called non life threatening injuries. According to a Santa Rosa Police press release, detectives with the Gang Crimes Investigation Team and Violent Crimes Investigation Team took on the case.
The detectives working on available evidence, including the abandoned car, developed a possible suspect in 20-year-old Leonard James Roubidoux. They believed Roubidoux had shot the other man over a years-old grudge between the two of them. The wanted man was spotted yesterday walking on West Third Street near the JX Wilson Elementary School with a 17-year-old girl, who is apparently his girlfriend. It is believed that she was the second person in the car when the shooting occurred. Both of them were taken into custody. Roubidoux was previously arrested in 2012 with 4 others in a drug selling operation dealing in rock cocaine and prescription medications. He was booked then for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
Roublidoux was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted murder, and the girl, not named because she is a minor, was charged with being an accessory to the crime. Gang enhancements were added to both charges, as they are believed to be associated with a criminal street gang. She was sent to juvenile hall while Roubidoux was booked into the Sonoma County Jail. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with additional information is asked to call Detective Crespan at 707-543-3670.
