McKinleyville shooting leads to attempted homicide arrest

A shooting on Reasor Road in McKinleyville left one man wounded and ended with an 18-year-old suspect detained in Arcata. Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies treated the case as an attempted homicide, moving quickly from the initial 911 call to an arrest.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received the call at 11:52 a.m. on July 19, 2026, reporting that a shooting had just occurred on Reasor Road. The early report described a wounded man, and deputies immediately began working the scene in McKinleyville while tracking a suspect.

By later in the response, deputies had detained a primary suspect in the 1700 block of Stromberg in Arcata. The arrest linked the McKinleyville shooting to a separate enforcement action in Arcata, underscoring how quickly the investigation moved once deputies identified a lead.

McKinleyville has seen several serious sheriff’s investigations in recent years. On June 10, 2022, deputies were dispatched around 3:38 a.m. to the 5000 block of Dows Prairie Road for a reported gunshot victim and identified 40-year-old Tanaua Marie Bryan as the suspect in an attempted murder arrest. On Sept. 13, 2021, deputies responded to the 1300 block of Underhill Avenue after a report of a physical assault and encountered a 15-year-old juvenile suspect in another attempted murder case.

The community was also the site of a July 3, 2023 homicide in the 2000 block of Silverbrook Court. In that case, deputies said the firearm used was a shotgun, and the suspect, 26-year-old Jasen Dwain Coley of McKinleyville, fled in a dark-colored compact sedan.

County records show the sheriff’s office uses attempted homicide language when violence is severe. In a Fortuna case on April 13, 2024, deputies responded to a robbery and attempted homicide on Newberg Road, where the victim was robbed at gunpoint, shot in the shoulder, and severely assaulted, with serious injuries to the head and face.

For McKinleyville, the latest case adds another high-level violent-crime investigation to the town’s recent record. Deputies moved from the original shooting scene to an arrest in Arcata within hours, and the case is now in the hands of investigators and prosecutors.