A man was shot and killed in Vallejo's Country Club Crest neighborhood on Halloween afternoon, just as trick-or-treaters in the area were getting ready to head out for the evening. Police say the gunman fled before officers reached the scene and remains at large.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. Saturday in the 100 block of Simonton Street, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported that the victim suffered at least one gunshot wound and died at the scene. As reported by KTVU, the killing took place in the residential block just as trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood were preparing to go out for the holiday.
Vallejo police have not released the victim's name, withholding his identity pending notification of his family. The department also said there were no other known victims connected to the shooting, and investigators had not identified a suspected shooter as of Saturday night.
Scene Closed to Traffic as Investigation Began
Officers shut down the area around the shooting to traffic while they processed the scene, the same KTVU report notes. The shooter fled before officers arrived and was still at large, a department spokesman told the station.
The case remains under investigation. Vallejo police are asking anyone with information to contact Detective Zach Horton at 707-648-5425 or Detective Seamus Lanham at 707-648-4515, and an anonymous tip can also be left at 800-488-9383.
Part of a Difficult Year for Vallejo
The Simonton Street killing follows a string of homicides that have weighed on Vallejo this year. A headline from the Times Herald Online had already described an incident reported two and a half weeks earlier as the city's 11th homicide of the year.
The City of Vallejo Police Department maintains a public homicide-data page, stating that modern policing is informed by data that shows what's working and what needs improvement. No further details on the department's findings were made available alongside that statement.
For now, the Halloween shooting on Simonton Street stands as an open case, with the person responsible still unaccounted for and a neighborhood left to process a violent end to what should have been a holiday evening.
