Pair, 22 and 19, Arrested In Connection With Motel 6 Shooting In Rohnert Park

Police also released photos of items allegedly left behind by the suspect in the Motel 6 shooting in Rohnert Park.

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After a weeklong-plus investigation, Rohnert Park police on Friday arrested two males, 22 and 19 years old, in connection with the July 2 shooting of a suspected prostitute at a Motel 6 in Rohnert Park.

One was taken into custody as he was leaving a weight-training class at Santa Rosa Junior College, and the other at his workplace at Santa Rosa Plaza, according to the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

Ronnie Paul Threadgill, 22 of Santa Rosa, was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and assault with a firearm and is in custody at the Sonoma County Jail on $1 million bail, police said. Threadgill’s roommate, Koa James Sibley, 19 and also from Santa Rosa, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to an attempted homicide and is jailed with a bail of $500,000, according to the department.

The duo was actually stopped by officers on the night of the crime at a nearby Jack in the Box, but released as police were called to the shooting scene, the department said.

Around 2 a.m. on the morning of July 2, authorities responded to the Motel 6, located at 6145 Commerce Blvd. on a report of shots fired. Arriving officers found a woman in her early 20s, later determined to be engaged in prostitution, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The female is still hospitalized and ”unable to communicate” with detectives.

The woman’s companion, Alton Emanuel Stewart, a 24-year-old resident of Sacramento, was allegedly hit in the head with Threadgill’s gun and called 911 to report the shooting. He was later arrested on suspicion of pimping and committing a felony while out on bail, according to officers.

Rohnert Park detectives on Friday obtained arrest warrants for the two subjects, Threadgill and Sibley. Detectives located surveillance video from businesses in the area which reportedly showed Threadgill, the suspect accused of shooting the woman, being dropped off by a car and walking towards the motel, police said. The surveillance video also showed him running from the motel a short time later, and the same car picking him up across the street, according to the department.

Minutes after the initial 911 call that morning, a Rohnert Park patrol officer stopped Threadgill and Sibley as they were driving away from the Jack in the Box that is located in the same shopping center as the Motel 6.

The pair reportedly told the officer that they were Santa Rosa Junior College football players and had stopped at the fast food restaurant to get food -- which was, indeed, in the car, police said. Their identities were logged during the traffic stop, however, the officer was summoned to the scene of the shooting and the two were released, police said.

A check of the SRJC football roster, does not show either listed as players for the football squad.

During the investigation, detectives matched the vehicle seen in the surveillance footage with the one at the traffic stop. Threadgill, who allegedly left distinctive eyeglasses at the scene of the crime, was identified by Stewart as the suspect involved, police said.

Rohnert Park detectives were assisted by the Santa Rosa Junior College Police Department, Santa Rosa Police Department Detectives and the Sheriff’s Department’s Multi Agency Gang Enforcement Team in the arrests.

Threadgill was located on the SRJC campus at a weight training class, and at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Friday was stopped driving away from the class and taken into custody without incident, police said.

At approximately 6:50 p.m. police located Sibley at work in the Santa Rosa Plaza and took him into custody without incident.

Detectives also obtained a search warrant for Threadgill and Sibley’s apartment in the 1500 block of North Street in Santa Rosa, and located several items of evidence related to the crime, according to police.