In Marin City: Argument Leads To Two Deaths

Two people died and another is in the hospital after an altercation including gunfire Sunday morning in unincorporated Marin County, a sheriff’s office spokesman said.

The first 911 call came in at 9:58 a.m. of an altercation on Cole Drive in the unincorporated community of Marin City, sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Doug Pittman said. Most of the altercation was at 99 Cole Drive but a person initially found to be in critical condition from a gunshot wound ran to 79 Cole Drive.

Deputies do not know whether the person ran to escape further injury or to escape being caught by deputies, Pittman said.

The person is still in the hospital but their condition has greatly improved, he said.

The first 911 callers said the altercation involved bats or sticks and other weapons. But when the first deputies arrived dispatchers starting receiving calls saying that shots had been fired. Sheriff’s officials are not saying whether the two people who died did so because of gunshot wounds, according to Pittman.

The two were found outside an apartment building at 99 Cole Drive. Pittman said there seems to have been some type of argument between a male individual and a female individual at 99 Cole Drive.

Pittman said investigators are trying to determine whether the two people who died tried to intervene in the argument.

“That’s what we’re trying to put together now,” he said.

All the people involved in the altercation knew each other, Pittman said. That’s why investigators believe there is no further threat to the community, he said.

This is the second homicide in Marin City in nine months and the suspect in the previous homicide is still at large. But investigators don’t believe there is any connection between the two killings, Pittman said.

Deputies are asking anyone who has information about the altercation to come forward to help deputies put together the puzzle surrounding the arguments and deaths.

Sheriff’s officials are not releasing the names of the suspects until they have identified all the people who are key to the investigation, Pittman said.

The names of the two who died may be released this afternoon after the coroner has identified them and their families have been notified.

“Horrific,” Pittman said of the deaths.

--Bay City News