Shots Fired by Homeowner at Women Fleeing Burglary Scene

By Bay City News Service

A Santa Rosa man who found two women inside his house when he returned home Saturday afternoon shot into one of the suspects' car as she fled the scene, a Sonoma County sheriff's sergeant said.

When the 72-year-old man and his wife returned to their home in the 4100 block of Bennett Valley Road in unincorporated Sonoma County around 5:30 p.m., they saw a suspicious vehicle in the home's crescent-shaped driveway and a woman looking out a window of their home, Sgt. Michael Raasch said.

The couple found two women in the home, and while the man's wife talked to the women, the man armed himself with a handgun, Raasch said.

One woman, later identified as 29-year-old Lucie Abramson of Santa Rosa, left the scene, but the other woman, Shaylyn Laumann, 36, of Santa Rosa had a heated verbal exchange with the man and tried to leave in the vehicle, Raasch said.

The resident positioned his car to block Laumann's vehicle, then got out of his car, Raasch said. Laumann revved the car's engine, backed down the driveway and managed to get past the residents' car, Raasch said. Fearing he would be hit, the man fired three shots into the fleeing car's engine compartment and called 911, Raasch said.

The bullets hit a wire on the engine's alternator and a power steering line, Raasch said. Laumann was able to drive the car a short distance until it became disabled, and she asked a man who was nearby to help her push the car off the road and call police, Raasch said.

Laumann told responding Santa Rosa police officers someone shot at her vehicle, but the residents of the home positively identified her as one of the burglars, Raasch said.

Jewelry that was taken from the residence was found in Laumann's car, Raasch said. Laumann had been in trouble with police before, and police and sheriff's deputies suspected one of her distinctive-looking associates, Abramson, was the other alleged burglar, Raasch said.

Abramson, who has pink streaks in her hair and a lip ring, is on probation for burglary, Raasch said. She was arrested at her home four blocks from the Bennett Valley Road residence, Raasch said. The residents also identified her as one of the women who were inside their home.

Both women were booked into the Sonoma County jail for residential burglary and conspiracy, Raasch said. Laumann also was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and possession of methamphetamine when four grams of the drug was found in her bra while she was booked at the jail.

Abramson also was booked for violating her probation for a previous burglary, Raasch said. Abramson is being held under no bail, and Laumann posted $40,000 bail and was released.