Santa Rosa mom recovering after caught in crossfire of alleged gang shooting

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - A Santa Rosa mom who was caught in the crossfire of a shooting on the Fourth of July faces a long recovery.

"She's strong and she'll do what she has to do to keep going," said Jonathan Jones, who's spent several days at his wife's hospital bedside.

Meaghan Jones, 29, was wounded just after midnight Monday at a block party in southwest Santa Rosa.

The gunfire also killed Javier Montes-Medina and injured two teenagers, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy.

"It was definitely a shock running up to her on the ground and not knowing what to do," said Jones, who got to his wife right after the paramedics.

"I got to say I love you as they were putting her into the ambulance."

The violence erupted on Beachwood Drive near Myrtlewood.

A crowd had gathered to watch illegal fireworks in the street, when a silver Honda Accord drove through. People inside the vehicle shouted the name of a local street gang. Witnesses said soon after they opened fire, hitting the first three victims.

Meaghan was a few doors down, and was apparently hit when someone in the crowd fired back at the Honda.

"It hit her large and small intestines 12 times so they had to remove a foot and a half of intestine and kind of rearrange all of that," Jones said.

Meaghan woke up Wednesday after two abdominal surgeries.

"That relief of getting to see her and talk to her and hold her hand, it was awesome," Jones said. "And the first thing she said when she woke up was ‘when do I get to go home?’"

Santa Rosa police say it appears to be opportunistic, not targeted, violence.

Police say Montes-Medina was a former gang member who had not had gang ties in many years.

None of the other three people who were wounded had gang affiliations.

"When you have a drive-by shooting and you have 30, 40 people out there, somebody saw something," noted Santa Rosa Police Chief Rainer Navarro, as investigators work through leads.

So far, no one has been arrested, and no suspect information has been released.

Investigators do have the shooter's vehicle, which crashed nearby but the shooters fled the scene on foot.

"This year, we have seen well over 30 shootings, 12 shootings since early May and five homicides," Navarro said.

It's a surge in gun violence also seen nationally, but the numbers are especially high for a city of 170,000.

Navarro has 170 sworn officers and plans to ask the city council to budget more.

"We can't arrest our way out of every problem but it definitely is a part of it," he said.

The chief also regrets the loss of a gang-enforcement unit that was disbanded two years ago due to staff shortages.

In response to the recent violence, Navarro has increased patrols around parks, where many shootings have happened.

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The chief is also developing a strategy that will combine crackdown with outreach.

Recently violence has been especially bold: a carjacking at a shopping center parking lot, and a gang shootout on the parking structure of the downtown mall, both during daylight hours.   

"It's still safe to come to Santa Rosa," said Navarro, "and while we're seeing that uptick, we're doing everything we can to make sure this is a safe community."

But Jonathan Jones is unconvinced.

"The turf wars are definitely out of control and it makes no sense," says Jones, saddened for his hometown.

"It used to be a great place to live and unfortunately through the years it's gone downhill like most places have."

It shakes Jones thinking about how close their son Cooper, 4, came to losing his mom.

"It doesn't matter who you are, where you are, when this happens, there's a chance it will be you."

The family, that night, had actually attended a much smaller party on the street, and been circulating among the front yards.

They had already gone home, when Meaghan realized they had forgotten Cooper's sneakers and she doubled back to retrieve them.

Ten minutes later, Jones got the call she'd been shot. 

"Something so simple as the shoes could have ended it all, and I'm glad it didn't," said Jones.

He has put his faith in his local police department to investigate.

"I know they're doing the best they can to catch whoever did this and bring justice."

And Meaghan had a few choice words for the suspects as well.

"She actually woke up cussing out who shot her, even though we don't know who that is, the first thing she did, was cuss them out."

Meaghan is employed in the health field as a medical coder but will be unable to work as she recovers.

A GoFundMe has been established to help the family with expenses.