Yuba County violence escalates

Marysville police are investigating what triggered the shooting of three men at a large party Saturday night.

Two Gridley residents and a Yuba City man were wounded by gunfire at 11:25 p.m. at the Allyn Scott Youth & Community Center, 1830 B St. All three were hospitalized and are expected to survive, police said Sunday.

The attack capped a violent half-week in Yuba County, which began with the murder of three men Thursday in a Linda apartment and ended with a stabbing at a tavern in Wheatland. Five men injured in that incident, which resulted in the arrest of a Fresno man for investigation of attempted murder.

No suspects were identified in the assault at the Marysville youth center; police estimated up to 300 people were inside. Two victims were found in a car outside the building and a third inside the center.

As people scattered from the community center in confusion, officers approached the building carrying high-powered rifles. The attack drew Yuba City police, sheriff's deputies from Yuba and Sutter counties, and California Highway Patrol officers.

Scott Hatala, president of the youth center's board of directors, went to the scene after receiving a call from the alarm company. He said the building had been rented for a quinceañera, a teenage Latino girl's 15th-birthday celebration.

"They were only supposed to have 250 (inside) but it looked like a lot more," he said.

According to Hatala, the Allyn Scott center plays hosts to many events but had not been the scene of such violence before Saturday.

"We get fire alarms pulled, but nothing major like this," said Hatala. A further call on Sunday was not returned.

A Marysville officer, however, said the event was not a birthday party.

"Actually, it was not," said Sgt. John Osbourn. "It was a rap dance or concert."

An unidentified concertgoer said a dispute brewed during the event between members of the Norteño and Sureño street gangs.

Less than two hours after the Marysville shooting, at 1:06 a.m., a fight broke out at Bill's Place in Wheatland. Three men were stabbed with a folding knife, police Chief Dan Boon said in a statement.

Steve Ellison, 25, of Wheatland was taken to the trauma center at Sutter Roseville Medical Center. Two others, 24-year-old Josh Tarrant of Wheatland and 24-year-old Bryan Blake of Lakewood, were sent to Rideout Memorial Hospital.

Officers arrested Fred Grantham Jr., 25, of Fresno after the stabbings.

He was booked at the Yuba County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and was being held Sunday night on $500,000 bail.

His brother, 23-year-old David Grantham of Fresno, was detained on a Fresno County warrant and released. Both siblings also were treated at Rideout hospital for injuries from the attack, Wheatland police said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708, 458-2121 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com. Reporter Andrea Koskey and copy editors Harold Kruger and Kyle Buis contributed to this report.