photo credit: courtesy of Santa Rosa Police Department
Santa Rosa Police are investigating a robbery and shooting at the Santa Rosa Transit Mall

Over the weekend two teens were shot in a brazen robbery at the Transit Mall in downtown Santa Rosa. KRCB News spoke with Santa Rosa police about the ongoing investigation.

Police say the boys, aged 15 and 14, were accosted while waiting for a bus with two other teen boys just before 6:30 pm on Sunday, January 4th, 2026.

Sgt. Patricia Seffens of the Santa Rosa Police Department describes the suspects:

“They were approached by two young adult men - either late teens, early 20s - wearing dark clothing and ski masks, demanding that they turn over all their property,” said Seffens. “At one point one of the suspects brandished a firearm and pistol whipped - so hit the 15-year-old in the side of the face with the gun and then almost immediately after shot him in the shoulder. The boys did surrender some personal property to the suspects who, immediately following the shooting, took that property and ran away from the area south towards Juilliard Park.”

Seffens says the 14-year-old boy was grazed by the same bullet that went cleanly through the 15-year-old's shoulder. Both boys were treated and released to their parents on Sunday evening.

“Our officers were very quick on scene,” Seffens said. “They set up perimeters, began looking for the suspects. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, Henry 1 helicopter was immediately up in the air providing aerial support and we even brought one of our canines out to the scene to essentially sniff search for either of the suspects and any possible discarded firearms. Unfortunately, no suspects were located, and the firearm was not recovered.”

Seffens says investigators are using surveillance footage both from the cameras at the Transit Mall, as well as from security cameras from homes between the Mall and Juilliard Park.

“Due to the clothing that the suspects were wearing, they aren't identifiable from those photos,” Seffens explained. “So putting them out in the public is just unfortunately not going to be very helpful.”

Seffens says there are no plans to increase police presence at the Transit Mall.

“As of right now, we have not been requested to upstaff or anything like that,” said Seffens. “However, our downtown enforcement team and all of our downtown officers are aware of the situation and are conducting proactive extra patrols throughout the entire downtown core to address any criminal activity or suspicious behavior.”

A privately-funded Sonoma County business alliance is offering a $2,500 reward for info leading to an arrest.