BELLINGHAM—A Whatcom County man and two youths were arrested Friday night after a drive-by shooting in the Roosevelt Park area, according to Bellingham Police.
Callers to 911 reported a fight and gunshots in the area shortly after 9 p.m. March 11, according to Lt. Claudia Murphy, public information officer for the Bellingham Police Department.
Police have not been made aware of any injuries to anyone, Murphy wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald. “All the reports indicate was the fight happening between several people at Roosevelt Park. The witnesses then heard the volley of shots and several cars, including the white Mustang leaving,” she wrote, adding police don’t know what the fight was about.
Officers found spent shell casings at the site of the fight, Murphy wrote, and a witness reported seeing shots being fired from within a white Ford Mustang before it drove north on Verona Street from the park.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a white Ford Mustang driving abnormally slow on Woburn Street, away from the shooting and fight, according to the news release. They stopped the car with four men inside near East McLeod Road and Chandler Parkway shortly after.
Officers saw a handgun underneath the passenger sitting behind the driver and saw spent shell casings inside the Mustang, as well as one that fell to the ground outside of the car, according to the news release.
Eugenio D. Herrera, 19, of Lynden, the passenger behind the driver, was found to be a felon prohibited from possessing a firearm. During his arrest for unlawful possession, officers found four, unspent, 9mm rounds in his front pants pocket. These rounds matched the spent casings found in the Mustang, according to police.
Herrera admitted to officers he was in the park at the time of the shooting, according to police, and he was also arrested for drive-by shooting. He is listed as being held without bail at the Whatcom County Jail.
The driver of the Mustang, an unnamed 17-year-old from Ferndale, was arrested for drive-by shooting and booked into the Whatcom County Juvenile Detention.
An unnamed 14-year-old from Blaine was found with a set of metal knuckles near his feet on the floor of the backseat. He was arrested for being in possession of a dangerous weapon and also booked into Whatcom County Juvenile Detention.
The front-seat passenger, an unnamed 15-year-old, was not arrested.
The Mustang was seized for the application of a search warrant to retrieve evidence inside, Murphy wrote.
