Neighbors Help Santa Cruz Police Track Gun-Tossing Man

UPDATE: Police announced Friday the gun has been found at a house near the campus of the Pacific Collegiate Charter School.  Suspect Derek Bodiford led police to where he had dumped the gun he found when it was thrown from a car.

Santa Cruz police were called to West Cliff Drive and Sacramento Avenue at 7:05 p.m. Thursday by witnesses who saw a car with a flat tire and bullet holes in it. Callers said they saw a gun fly out the window of the moving car, and others had pictures of a man picking up the gun.

Arriving officers spotted a man who looked like the description witnesses provided walking on Stockton Avenue toward Modesto Avenue, according to a police release. The man ran to the back of a school on the 200 block of Swift Street. Using dogs and mutual aid from California State Park rangers and the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department, police found and arrested Derek Bodiford, 19, trying to leave the school grounds.

He was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen gun, possession of alcohol by a minor and possession of a gun in a school zone, as well as resisting arrest.

The gun has not been found. It is described as a silver semi-automatic with black grips. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 831-420-5820.