Local sheriff’s deputies responding to reports of a robbery at a hobby store in Saugus Monday morning came under apparent fire from a paintball shooter when at least four gun shots were heard during the arrest of one suspect.
“The shots were from a paintball gun it seems,” one deputy with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal.
No one was hurt in the incident.
The reported robbery – one which began as a shoplifting but ended in a scuffle with the manager – happened shortly after the Hobby Lobby store opened.
It’s located on Bouquet Canyon Road, north of Newhall Ranch Road.
Within a couple of minutes of having arrived at the store, deputies reported at least four shots fired.
Those shots turned out to be four “bright light blue” paintballs fired at the store by a woman driving a light grey GMC van, the manager of the Hobby Lobby store told The Signal.
“This whole thing started at 9:40 a.m. when an individual was caught shoplifting and the manager stopped him,” Sgt. Brian Allen said, noting the suspect had about $300 in stolen property.
“While he (suspect) and the manager were inside the door, a woman rolls up in a van and tries to ‘light him (manager) up’ with paintballs.
“She didn’t strike anyone but it sure got a lot of attention,” Allen said.
When deputies arrived, they arrested the robbery suspect and immediately began looking for the woman in the van.
Shortly before 9:55 a.m., the van was spotted near the Real Life Church on Newhall Ranch Road. By the time deputies arrived, it was gone.
About 3 p.m. Joshua Scruggs, who works for Maxwell Security Services which is assigned to patrol the condo complex near the plaza on Bouquet Canyon Road, spotted the van abandoned on Susan Beth Way and immediately called deputies, he said.
Scruggs described the van as light grey with tinted windows and no license plates.
Deputies were still looking the woman, described by Scruggs as having brown hair and a pock-marked face.
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