Healing after a jolting summer

(Editor's note: This is one in a series of monthly stories taking a close-up look at neighborhoods in Petaluma.)

Life on peaceful Santa Clara Lane has returned to normal after residents were shaken this summer by two events — including one in which 20 shots were fired into a home — but some residents say that it will never be quite the same.

“Things have pretty much returned to normal. I wouldn’t say that people are wary, but we’re probably a little more aware of what’s going on around the area,” said Liz Youngberg, who has lived on adjacent Santa Ines Way for the past 35 years.

On June 30, some people began throwing rocks at a house on the 1000 block of Santa Clara Lane, prompting two of the residents — Ronal Bonilla, 20, and brother Gabriel, 16, to come out armed with baseball bats and knives.

A fight ensued, and Ronal Bonilla chased one person and stabbed him in the arm, causing a severe laceration. Ronal Bonilla was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of burglary tools and violation of probation. He subsequently was released and no charges were formally filed because police still were investigating the incident.

Gabriel Bonilla was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. All of the people who instigated the incident fled before police arrived, and were not arrested.

Then, shortly after midnight on July 22, 20 shots from a semiautomatic rifle were fired into the same home, barely missing family members, including two toddlers. Witnesses claimed to have seen someone with a gun jump out of a silver sedan in front of the house and begin firing.

After the incident, police found a .30 caliber M1 carbine rifle in some bushes near the house, but the suspects have not been found. Both incidents might have resulted from an ongoing gang conflict. Ronal Bonilla told the Press Democrat that he is a member of a norteño gang, and had been fighting with rivals.

Since the two incidents occurred during the summer, school was not in session and no other activities were taking place at nearby Miwok Elementary School, at 1010 St. Francis Drive.

“By the time school started in August, the situations were pretty much over. They were a big deal, but they only involved one house,” said Kim Harper, the school’s principal, adding that teachers and other staff members haven’t discussed the incidents with students.

“But the shooting case is still active, and we’re still working to try to find the people responsible,” said Sgt. Tara Salizzoni of the Petaluma Police Department on Tuesday.

Kristine Floyd, a resident of the area, circulated a petition to have the family at the Santa Clara Lane home removed, and the owner of the property, who had begun eviction proceedings before the second incident occurred, told them to leave by Aug. 1.

The family then left, and the home was vacant for a month until a woman moved in, according to neighbors.

But for about a month after the second incident, several curious people drove by the home, creating traffic in the area surpassed only during the holiday season, when people flock to see the spectacularly decorated Gervasi house on Santa Clara Lane (aka Santa Claus Lane, at that time of year).

Ken White, who has lived next door since 1974, says that he has observed no subsequent problems at the home.

“The new resident is so quiet we never hear her. And the neighborhood has reverted back to its peaceful self,” he said.

The Whites, like many other families in the area, are longtime residents who raised a family there.

“This was a great place to raise kids. A lot of families, like ours, had many kids. They played together in the street and went to school together,” said White, who, along with wife Shirley, raised five children.

The children from that period now are adults, but several of them have returned to the neighborhood to live in their former homes. And many parents, such as the Whites, have stayed, albeit with a more empty house.

“Plenty of the old geezers still are here, and we’ve remained friends. A lot of residents belong to the Elks Club, and some of take turns having potluck meals together. And in May, 22 of us went on a cruise to Alaska,” White said.

Some neighbors gathered in the Whites’ home in July after the shooting incident.

“We had a get-together of about 12 to 16 people to talk about it. People were scared, and didn’t feel they could have their grandchildren over to visit. Afterward, we had more of a sense that things would get back to normal,” White said.

“We had other informal meetings, and talked with each other on the telephone,” said Mary Pheil, who has lived on Santa Clara Lane with husband Charles for the past 19 years.

Charles Riedmuller, who has resided on nearby San Rafael Drive for the past 33 years and helped raise a family there, said that some residents have changed their habits, though.

“I used to walk my dog at night, but now I don’t do it,” he said. “Things have changed. After we moved to this neighborhood, we didn’t lock our house or cars for years, but we do now.”

Floyd, who was raised in the neighborhood, hopes that it will regain some of its former identity.

“It doesn’t have the same feel as when I was growing up. I want this to be the same cute little area it used to be, a place where I will feel comfortable raising my 12-year-old stepdaughter,” she said.

(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)