An argument between occupants from two cars in the 100 block of North Lincoln Avenue Thursday afternoon led to gun fire with the victim slumping to the sidewalk and the shooter fleeing on foot northward toward Center Street.

Witnesses said the shooter ran eastward on Center Street as he fled the neighborhood on foot with its older frame, single-family homes near the Manteca courthouse.

Two cars had pulled up in front of chiropractic and paralegal offices shortly before 4:30 p.m.  Two of the male passengers first believed to be in their early 30s began arguing on the sidewalk. It was an argument that lasted some six to seven minutes, one witness related, adding it was between a Hispanic and a white man.  The drivers of the cars had returned to in their vehicles before the shooting, they said.

“We could hear them arguing but we didn’t know what it was about,” one noted.

Three of the witnesses that came forward to talk with a Bulletin reporter all claimed they had heard the single gunshot and saw the victim being put into a cream colored Lincoln Continental with a woman driver who sped away from the scene.  The driver of the other car – an older model SUV – quickly drove off in the other direction, a witness said.

Manteca Police spokesman Officer Jason Hensley said the victim was dropped off at the Doctors Hospital emergency room a short time later, adding that he was in surgery at 8:30 p.m.  Shot in the lower abdomen with a hand gun, he was said to have sustained a non-life threatening wound.

Officers reportedly recovered one shell casing at the scene where yellow crime tape restricted pedestrians from getting close to the actual shooting scene both at Yosemite Avenue and at the alley to the north.

The incident occurred near the end of shift change and some five black and white patrol cars and Street Crimes Unit (SCU) undercover officers responded to the scene just north of Yosemite Avenue.

Three SCU officers quickly located a man in the 500 block of East Center Street who matched the description of the shooter who had recently been released from prison.  Witnesses at that location had seen him go behind a building at 520 East Center and take off his coat and remove an object similar to a telescoping baton.  Officers searched the area after detaining him, but they could find nothing resembling a weapon that he might have discarded.

The man was detained on the sidewalk until a black and white police car drove by with a witness to the shooting who attempted to identify him in a roadside lineup.  He was not identified as the shooter by the witness, but he was arrested on another charge.

Hensley said the shooter was described as a white, male adult, 20 to 30 years old, about 6-foot tall.  He was wearing jeans and a brown sweat shirt, witnesses said.

Anyone with information on the shooter or the shooting itself is urged to call Manteca Crime Stoppers at 823-4636 to be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.  Manteca detectives are following up on the case.