Gunfire broke out late Saturday night in a residential pocket of Aptos, sending deputies scrambling to the area of Center Avenue and Sea Terrace Way but leaving no one hurt and, so far, no suspect identified. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office says it is still working to piece together what happened and is counting on neighbors' doorbell cameras to help fill in the gaps.
According to The Pajaronian, the shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the area of Center Avenue and Sea Terrace Way. As reported by KSBW, deputies responded to reports of gunfire at about that time and canvassed the area, where they found evidence and collected available surveillance footage. No injuries were reported, the station notes.
The Sheriff's Office has not released any suspect information at this time, per the same KSBW account. That leaves investigators leaning heavily on the public: anyone with information, video or other potentially relevant evidence is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 831-471-1121, and officials say even seemingly minor information could be helpful.
Deputies Lean on Neighborhood Cameras
Residents, businesses and people who simply drove through the area that night are being encouraged to check their security cameras, doorbell cameras and dashcams for anything useful, the outlet's report states. With no suspect description yet circulating, footage from the neighborhood may end up being the fastest route to answers for investigators working the case.
This is not the first time gunfire has disrupted this stretch of Aptos. In May 2023, a shooting near the Freedom Boulevard exit on southbound Highway 1 injured a father and his 3-year-old child after a Friday-night collision, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Investigators in that case believed the shooter fired 15 rounds from a handgun fitted with an extended ammunition clip, and a search warrant served months later in Hayward recovered a Glock and high-capacity magazines that ballistic testing tied back to the shooting.
A Pattern of Scares in the Community
Other recent incidents have rattled the same community in different ways. A 2025 shooting near Mar Monte and Highway 1 left a victim with non-life-threatening injuries after self-transporting to a hospital, and prompted a shelter-in-place order that began at 4:07 p.m. and was lifted at 6 p.m., according to KSBW. And in an earlier, deadlier case on the 3100 block of Trout Gulch Road, deputies responding to a reported shooting at about 4:15 p.m. ultimately identified 36-year-old Patrick Collins of Aptos as the suspect; one person was killed and two others were hospitalized, with one of the hospitalized individuals placed under arrest, the station reported.
There is nothing in the current investigation tying Saturday night's shooting to any of those earlier cases, and the Sheriff's Office has not said whether it suspects a connection. For now, the focus remains on gathering video and tips from anyone who was near Center Avenue and Sea Terrace Way around the time shots were fired.
