Santa Rosa Mass Shooter Sentenced To Life In Prison

SANTA ROSA, CA — A 43-year-old Santa Rosa man has been sentenced to life in prison for two counts of attempted murder and related assault weapon charges.

Steven Carter Strawn will be eligible for parole in 50 years, a Sonoma County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.

Strawn fired on multiple people outside the Dutton Plaza shopping center in west Santa Rosa on Sept. 28, 2024, with an illegal assault rifle until it jammed, the District Attorney's Office said.

Prosecutors told jurors Strawn arrived at the shopping center in the early evening and began harassing shoppers and people walking on the nearby Joe Rodota Trail.

When a man asked him to leave, Strawn pulled out an assault rifle in a companion's vehicle and began shooting at the man as well as another man who was taking pictures.

Neither was hit and the rifle jammed as Strawn and another person drove away.

He was found in a nearby parking lot by Santa Rosa police officers trying to clear the jammed assault rifle when he was arrested, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Strawn, who was already a three-time felony offender, was convicted in a jury trial in November of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with an assault weapon, possession of an assault weapon, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Strawn testified in his own defense and told jurors that a third person, not seen during the shooting, was responsible, prosecutors said.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said the life sentence was justified when the shooting was considered along with Strawn's criminal history.

"Mr. Strawn has been a menace to our community throughout his adult life," Rodriguez said in a statement. "It is nothing short of a miracle that the victims targeted by Mr. Strawn were not physically harmed. The court's life sentence is a just conclusion to this case and will hopefully provide some relief and comfort to the victims."

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