A man was taken into custody after a shooting Saturday night near Riverside Drive and Marchant Street.
Just before 7pm, Watsonville Police responded to reports of shots fired at the heavily traveled intersection. They learned the suspect, 49-year-old Sandro Vega, had been seen outside a nearby home in the 100 block of Marchant Street holding a rifle.
Watsonville Police, accompanied by Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies and the California Highway Patrol, surrounded a home on Marchant Street between Riverside Drive and East Front Street as a huge crowd of curious spectators gathered.
After cordoning off the area around the home with yellow crime scene tape, police shut down Riverside Drive, Marchant Street and East Front Street. Using a loudspeaker, police announced repeatedly for the suspect to come out of the home while a drone hovered overhead.
WPD spokeswoman Erika Vazquez said Vega stepped outside the home but stayed in the front yard and refused to follow commands, leading to a standoff with a swarm of armed police and a K9 at the ready. After about 30 minutes, Vega surrendered and was taken into custody.
After detectives secured a search warrant for the home they found multiple firearms. Vega was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on charges including assault with a firearm, brandishing a firearm, and negligent discharge of a firearm.
