A suspect detained during the investigation of a shooting outside a vegan bakery admitted he was the gunman who fired at least five shots but was released from custody as detectives continued to probe the incident in the Point Loma Heights area near Ocean Beach, police said Sept. 28.
The shooting, believed to have caused no injuries, was first reported just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27 outside Peace Pies, a vegan bakery in a mixed residential and business area in the 4200 block of Voltaire Street, police officer John Buttle said. Dozens of patrol officers swarmed the area, but the suspect and a potential victim were gone by the time police arrived.
“We had a white male suspect who walked out onto the street and took several shots at a passing motorcycle,” Sgt. Richard Perkins told reporters at the scene. “We don’t know what happened, we don’t know if there was a dispute between the two or if there was any altercation before the incident.”
Perkins said the shooter came out of the bakery before firing at the victim, and police did not believe the victim had been in the bakery. Police were also unsure if the victim was injured.
As officers began interviewing the “numerous witnesses” in the area, they found five shell casings, Buttle said. Then police received a call that the suspect was hiding in an apartment complex laundry room in the 2200 block of Mendocino Boulevard, just a few hundred feet from the shooting scene. Police arrested the suspect and took him to a police station for questioning.
“The suspect admitted to being the one who fired the weapon from Voltaire Street,” Buttle said, noting the firearm was found in a nearby dumpster. “The suspect was released pending additional follow-up by detectives.”
No victim in the incident had come forward as of this morning, Buttle said. Perkins told reporters there was no blood trail, no evidence of injury and nobody who showed up with a gunshot wound to any local hospitals.