SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A young man who opened fire on a group of people on the Cowles Mountain trail in San Carlos was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail and two years of probation.
No one was struck by the gunfire that erupted on the morning of March 30.
San Diego Police initially said an argument sparked the shooting, in which a woman pulled a unserialized "ghost gun" out from a fanny pack, then fired on a group of people on the trail.
Police later clarified that the suspect was male -- later identified as 19-year-old Jesus Castaneda -- and was accompanying the woman, who did not face charges.
An anonymous witness told the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year that they saw the young man and woman being chased by a group of other young men who were holding rocks. The witness said that during the foot chase, the gunman turned and fired four shots at their pursuers while there were also about a dozen other hikers in the nearby area.
At Castaneda's sentencing hearing, San Diego Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring said he "endangered public safety by discharging a firearm near innocent civilians."
Castaneda pleaded guilty to a felony count of assault with a semi- automatic firearm.
He was sentenced Thursday on two cases, one for the shooting and another related to possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors said that while Castaneda was allowed to remain out of custody in the shooting case, he was ordered not to possess firearms, yet later obtained a gun. County jail records indicate he was booked back into custody last month.
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