Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies rushed to a Canyon Country shopping center parking lot Tuesday after receiving a call from a man who said he had shot someone in a vehicle.
The call came in at around 11 a.m. from a man on the 19000 block of Soledad Canyon Road, near a Wendy’s.
“The male caller stated that he had a gun in his hand and shot someone in a vehicle,” said Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
Upon canvassing the area, deputies were unable to locate the caller and did not find a vehicle, nor did they find evidence of a shooting, according to Navarro-Suarez. No one was detained following an investigation, said Lt. James Royal of the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
The call prompted a rapid and large response from the SCV Sheriff’s Station, as heavily armed deputies patrolled the scene and temporarily shut down Soledad Canyon Road in both directions to conduct an investigation.
“When you get a call like that it’s going to require a tremendous response. Deputies do canvas and search the immediate area,” Navarro-Suarez said. “It is not uncommon for someone to call the sheriff’s stations and any information we receive we are definitely going to go out and investigate.”
Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel were momentarily staged and confirmed no one was treated on the scene for injury, according to spokesman Christopher Thomas.
At the time of the incident, Wendy’s manager Catherine Romero said she heard a single shot while taking her break outside of the building.
“I was outside, so I could kind of hear a boom, like a shot,” Romero said. “After that, I didn’t hear anything. … I got really scared when they told me (it was a possible shooting).”
When deputies arrived, they questioned Romero and evacuated the Wendy’s.
“They came inside (the restaurant), but they didn’t find anything,” she added.
The incident brought numerous bystanders, including individuals who protested earlier on Tuesday just west of the Wendy’s and outside of a Buffalo Wild Wings regarding an assault investigation and felony stop in Canyon Country on Friday in which three teenagers were detained at gunpoint.
Law enforcement cleared the scene Tuesday just before noon.
Staff Writers Caleb Lunetta and Tammy Murga contributed to this report.
