On Saturday, February 13, two men were injured and hospitalized during a car-to-car shooting that took place at around 9 p.m. in Val Verde. The victims, lucky to have survived, both received significant injuries to their bodies. One victim was hit in the leg, while the other was hit in the eye. Once deputies from the Santa Clarita Sheriff Station arrived, the victims were rushed to the hospital in Santa Clarita and are expected to recover.
Car-to-car shootings fall under California Penal Code 246 PC, California’s shooting at an inhabited dwelling or occupied car law. Specifically, the law makes it illegal for one person to shoot at an inhabited home or dwelling, inhabited building, an occupied motor vehicle or aircraft, and an inhabited “house car” (things like motor homes and campers). According to 246 PC, a home does not necessarily have to be occupied to be considered an inhabited dwelling; it just needs to be currently used as someone’s home.
An interesting aspect of 246 PC is that, in its definition on the books, the term “at” is explicitly defined. We all know what “at” means, but when it comes to laws, legislators need to take great care with the verbiage used so as not to render the law useless. In this example, the word “at” is given two definitions:
- Shooting directly at an inhabited home or dwelling (the traditional definition of “at”)
- Shooting in close proximity to an inhabited or occupied target, under circumstances that show a conscious disregard for the probability that one of the bullets will strike the target or the person around it
The first definition is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really require an example, so here is an example of the second:
- An individual is fired from his job in an office building, goes home to retrieve his gun, and then returns to the office building. The man then waits for his boss to leave for the day and tries to shoot his boss as he exists the building. The man who did the shooting could be charged with shooting at an inhabited building (along with murder/attempted murder/assault with a firearm, etc.). Even though the man didn’t literally shoot “at” the building, he did fire his weapon in the direction of the building while exercising disregard for whether or not anyone inside it could get hurt.
246 PC is always a felony, and the possible penalties include: felony probation, up to 1-year in county jail or up to 7-years in California state prison and/or a $10,000 fine.