SantaMariaPoliceBy the Santa Maria Police Department
Case # SMPD22-0011291 – Shooting Investigation update
On 10/09/2022 at approximately 1823 hours, SMPD Officers responded to the area of Vine and Jewel regarding reports of a shooting that had occurred.
Upon arrival, officers located a vehicle at the scene which had been struck by gunfire. The two female occupants of the vehicle, ages 17 & 18 respectively, had both been hit by bullets fired by two male assailants. Both females suffered serious injuries and had to be transported for medical treatment for their wounds. Additionally, the two male suspects fled the area on foot.
Through the course of the investigation, one suspect was identified as a 15-year-old male. He was located and taken into custody on Tuesday, 11/01/2022, without incident. He was admitted into the SM Juvenile Hall facility on charges of attempted murder.
SMPD Detectives continued to work the case and identified the second suspect as Dominic Joseph Leal, 18 years old and a resident of Santa Maria.
On 11/14/2022, SMPD patrol officers located Leal at his residence, and he was taken into custody without incident. A subsequent search warrant was conducted at his residence where multiple firearms were located and confiscated.
He was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail in Santa Maria on the charge of attempted murder. His bail is set at $1,000,000. SMPD Detectives are continuing with this investigation.
I grew up in a farm town. Most, if not all of us, had access to a shotgun or rifle and knew how to use it when dogs or foxes got into the chickens or rabbits in kitchen patches and quail or deer in season. Many of our dads or gramps had brought home suvenior weapons. None–not one incident of a juvenile shooting anything but target animals or skeet–ever happened. What changed?