On Thursday evening, numerous police officers flocked to the Crow’s Nest area of ​​the Port of Santa Cruz after a shooting occurred at the busy and popular location.

Santa Cruz police confirmed that two people were shot in the port parking lot shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday. Both remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. Dominican Hospital and Dignity Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The shooting was sparked by an argument in the parking lot, police said in a press release on Friday morning. A suspect fled in a black Dodge Charger. Police said they were still investigating the incident and had not identified the suspect or a motive for the shooting. Witnesses should come forward.

A representative from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, who declined to give her name, told Lookout late Thursday night that she did not know how many shots were fired, but confirmed that there were no reports of gunfire coming from the restaurant.

Witnesses described how quickly the shooting happened. Kim Baker was leaving the parking lot near the restaurant when she saw two men walk around a corner into an alley shortly before the shooting. Shortly afterward, shots rang out from the direction they had gone.

“A guy came running and said, ‘I got shot, I got shot,’ and then he immediately fell to the ground,” she said.

“We don’t know if it was gang-related or if it was random,” said Charlie Brown, the Crow’s Nest’s head of security. “We don’t know at this point.”

The incident coincided with a popular event, the Crow’s Nest Thursday Beach BBQ Party – a free event with live music and an outdoor bar every Thursday night from late May to late August.

Sam Kemp, who was at the party, said he was on his way to the restroom in the parking lot when he heard the same “popping noises” Baker remembered. As he approached the source of the noise, he saw people running away, and a woman approached him and asked if she had been shot. He said she seemed fine, but soon he saw another man lying on the ground between the Crow’s Nest and the nearby beachfront restaurant Cafe El Palomar.

“I heard him say he was shot, and then more and more people came and surrounded him,” Kemp said. “We saw some blood, but he was conscious and talking the whole time.”

Kemp said police arrived shortly after and set up a cordon, but the ambulance took about 20 minutes to arrive.

Kemp said the victim’s friends spoke to him and tried to help him while paramedics treated him: “It sounded like he was conscious when they put him in the ambulance.”

More photos from the accident scene

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