2 Men Shot in Unrelated Weekend Incidents

A 30-year-old Fillmore man was shot in the head early Sunday morning, in the second shooting in a rural area of Ventura County within 12 hours, authorities said.

The man, whom detectives declined to identify citing an ongoing criminal investigation, was clinging to life Sunday night at Ventura County Medical Center, where he was listed in serious but stable condition.

The man was shot about 5:45 a.m. in a North Fillmore alley and managed to reach the 800 block of nearby Edison Way, said Chuck Buttell, a spokesman with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

“He staggered a long way, actually, . . . from where he was shot to where he was found,” Buttell said.

A motive for the shooting is unknown, and officials declined to release any further information.

In an unrelated incident, police late Saturday arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the shooting of Thomas Mahl, 36, during a dispute between the pair at a Casitas Springs trailer park earlier in the evening.

Daniel Joseph Bonilla was arrested after crashing a stolen Ventura taxicab he allegedly carjacked into a ditch near the intersection of the 101 Freeway and California 154 near Los Olivos, north of Santa Barbara.

Bonilla is being held at Ventura County Jail without bail on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking and violating his parole.

Police arrested Bonilla, who had minor injuries, about 11:30 p.m. They had discovered him walking on the freeway and later found a handgun in the wrecked cab.

Bonilla led Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies and CHP patrol cars on a 45-minute chase from Santa Barbara north on Highway 101 to the Santa Ynez Valley, at speeds that sometimes exceeded 100 mph, officials said.

Bonilla is suspected of kidnapping the taxicab driver after fleeing the scene of the shooting, officials said. The cab driver was released unharmed in the Goleta area.