Three SLO County men arrested for attempted murder

April 16, 2015

Three men from San Luis Obispo County were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder after a dispute in Hanford over a motorcycle erupted in gunfire, with one man shot in the abdomen.

Lemoore police officers arrested Thomas Yanaga, 53, of Paso Robles; Benjamin Walter Ramage, 33, of Morro Bay and Scott William Penner, 33, of Templeton for attempted murder. A week earlier, Yanaga had been released from the San Luis Obispo County Jail on a $1 million bail. Yanaga is currently on trial for the alleged murder of Marshall Savoy of Atascadero.

Shortly before 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Kings County deputies responded to a report of gunshots fired. Upon arrival, the deputies found a man with gunshot wounds to his abdomen. The victim underwent surgery and is expected to survive.

Witnesses told deputies that two men got out of a white pickup truck and said they had purchased a motorcycle parked outside the home earlier in the day and were there to pick it up. After they were informed the motorcycle had not been sold to anyone, an argument ensued.

The currently unidentified victim then walked out of the Hanford home and was shot multiple times in the abdomen.

Ramage and Penner allegedly fled the scene in a truck owned and driven by Yanaga.

Lemoore police spotted the suspect truck and arrested Yanaga, Penner and Ramage. Officers found three handguns in the vehicle including a 9mm handgun believed to have been used in the shooting, the sheriff’s department said.

Deputies  booked Penner and Ramage  into the Kings County Jail on pending charges of being felons in possession of a firearm and attempted murder.

Deputies arrested Yanaga for attempted murder, for participating in a street gang, for committing a new offense while on bail and for having a new felony.

Yanaga is due back in a San Luis  Obispo County courtroom next week about his alleged murder of Savoy.