WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- One woman was severely injured and a man was killed during an early morning shooting Wednesday in a residential neighborhood, according to Watsonville police.
Investigators spent most of the day processing the scene at a nondescript beige building on Prospect Avenue, walking in and out of a home and peering into nearby parked cars.
Lt. Mike Ridgway said a 22-year-old Santa Cruz woman knocked on the door of a neighboring home at about 3:00 Wednesday morning. She was critically injured from a gunshot wound and flown to a Bay Area hospital. Hours later, blood was still visible on the side of a home across the street from the murder scene.
Officers followed a blood trail across Prospect Avenue to an open door of a converted residence, Lt. Ridgway said. Inside, they found the body of a 37-year-old Watsonville man.
"It's quite a scene," said Lt. Ridgway. "We have not established the totality of how he received all of his injuries yet."
Officers interviewed neighbors in an effort to develop leads, but many who lived in the area seemed to have no idea what happened.
Ken Baldwin said a Watsonville police officer knocked on his door early Wednesday morning. His wife answered and "they asked her if she had heard or seen anything. She said no," Baldwin said.
Lt. Ridgway said police are familiar with this particular home at 200 Prospect Avenue. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's SWAT team was called there last February after deputies received a tip that a gun stolen in a burglary was at the home. Two men were arrested after a four-hour standoff, but authorities didn't recover the gun.
"I don't know if there's any connection to that event directly to this one, in terms of why it occurred," said Ridgway. "But it did involve this building and perhaps some of the residents."
There are surveillance cameras on the property where the murder occurred -- one perched on the roof rotated throughout the day, looking down at police as they gathered evidence. Authorities said they are still trying to determine if the cameras are working and if they captured anything.
This is Watsonville's first homicide of 2012. Anybody with information is encouraged to call the Watsonville Police Investigation Division at (831) 768-3350 or the Crime Tip Line at (831) 768-3544.
