Fremont police investigate shootout linked to home pot grow

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- A violent shootout in Fremont shattered glass and left a trail of blood. Fremont police say it all leads to a home that housed a secret pot grow operation.

The shootout happened early Monday morning. Shots were fired just after 1 a.m. outside a home on Fremont Boulevard and Delaware Drive.

Gunshots were exchange between marijuana growers inside and would-be robbers on the street.

"Very unsuspecting, but every square inch of that house had been used for a marijuana grow," said Fremont police Lt. Michael Gebhardt.

Fremont police say people inside a home on Fremont Boulevard had a lot to protect.

"It's what we're seeing with these marijuana grows is it's the violence that it brings," Gebhardt said.

Around 1:30 a.m. next door neighbor Richard Sewell heard gunfire.

"I was asleep and I heard a gunshot go off and my wife said, 'No, don't go out there. There might be somebody out there. They might shoot you.' So I said, 'For once in my life I think I'll listen,'" Sewell said.

Police found bullet casings in Sewell's driveway, but only after they'd found a victim.

"A hospital in San Leandro had a patient come in with a gunshot wound to the shoulder," Gebhardt said.

He was hit inside the home. Investigators found 462 plants, more than the legal limit, but everyone involved was gone.

"Marijuana's about $250 an ounce for the good stuff, so a lot of money a lot of cash," Gebhardt said.

That's enough to pay the rent and not raise too much suspicion.

"These houses are renting for at least $3,000 a month," said neighbor Debbie Garcia. "I'm amazed that the house is always so quiet and there's never anyone here, and maybe that why."

Police are now looking for surveillance footage, or tips to help them catch the growers and attempted robbers.