Man Who Called To Report Shooting, Arrested For Shooting: Police

SAN RAFAEL, CA – A Sebastopol man, who reportedly warned police he was armed and drinking, was arrested over the weekend for allegedly shooting a gun from a boat, not long after he called police to report hearing a gunshot in San Rafael, according to authorities.

The caller, later identified as Christopher Patrick Skaates, 40, dialed the San Rafael Police Department from a boat docked at Loch Lomond Marina Saturday at about 4:48 a.m. claiming to have heard gunfire and that he believed a family member was shot, the agency said.

He further stated that "he was in possession of a firearm and had been drinking," police said.

Responding officers at the marina spoke via a phone with Skaates and, after approximately one hour of negotiating, succeeded in convincing him to put down his gun and exit the boat, the department said.

Skaates’ family member, who was not identified, also was on the boat, but was unharmed, police said.

Investigators said that, while he was on the boat, Skaates fired three shots from a handgun, adding that firearms onboard were recovered and taken for safekeeping.

Skaates was arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail for suspicion of willful discharge of a firearm and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, police said.

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