Santa Cruz Police Get a Big Lead on Shooting Case From a Good Samaritan

A maintenance worker who called police after finding a backpack behind the Branciforte small schools campus helped police get a jump on the man who shot a UCSC student Monday and stole the backpack.

The worker picked up the backpack from a trash bin behind the school and held it thinking it belonged to a student. At the end of the day, he called police to check it out. They found the 21-year-old UCSC student's ID in it. Her laptop and wallet were gone.

The woman had been robbed at 7:30 p.m. Monday at a dark bus stop by Naturual Bridges State Park. A man held a rifle to her head. She thought he just hit her in the back of the head with it, but she found out later at Dominican Hospital that she had been shot.

Police began canvassing the area around the school looking for businesses that might have a video camera. They found one that recorded the car's occupants throwing the backpack into the trash.

They revised the car they are looking for from a PT Cruiser to a white or silver Chevrolet HHR, which looks almost identical to the PT Cruiser.

They are also not sure whether the girl's robbery was connected to the Food Bin robbery Wednesday night.

"We might have suspected that at first, but we can't conclusively say right now," said Deputy Chief Steve Clark.

Clark praised the worker who turned in the backpack and thinks more video cameras would help police solve crimes.

"I think it's great," said Clark. "He did the right thing. He was just doing the right thing, but something triggered his "Spidey" senses and he called the police."

What was it that saved the woman's life after she was shot in the back of the head?

"I've seen it before," said Clark. "It's one of the fortunes of luck. Sometimes the bullet doesn't penetrate because of the angle. It will travel along the skull, under the skin. I saw one that traveled all the way around to the skin above the eye."

The woman was released from the hospital in good condition Wednesday. Santa Cruz and UCSC Police are working to offer a reward in the case.

They are also pulling DNA from the backpack that may help find the suspect.