A Scare As Shots Ring Out In Sonora And Residents Call 911

TCSO booking photo

Sonora, CA – Sonora residents report hearing multiple shots ring out along Lyons Bald Mountain Road Thursday evening, resulting in two arrests.

The calls started coming in regarding the gunfire around 6:30 p.m. to Tuolumne County Sheriff’s dispatch, with some reporting “seeing someone shooting out of a vehicle while driving,” according to sheriff’s spokesperson Ashley Boujikian. While searching the area, the deputy noticed a couple near a vehicle on nearby Scattergood Road.

The deputy contacted the pair, 31-year-old Brett Schmidt of Modesto and 26-year-old Marissa Miller of Sonora, and a record check revealed that Schmidt was on parole. A search of the vehicle turned up Miller’s 9mm handgun, 9mm bullets, and 9mm cartridge cases, according to Boujikian. Further canvassing of neighbors garnered more eyewitness reports of hearing the gunshots and seeing the vehicle.

Schmidt was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and a violation of parole. Miller was arrested for being an accessory to a felony. During their booking at the jail, deputies discovered a 9mm bullet in Schmidt’s pocket and a 9mm cartridge case in Miller’s bra.