BUENA PARK : Man Arrested Over Shots Fired at Tree

A local man this weekend became the second person arrested in the city under a new felony firearms law after he fired a dozen shotgun rounds at a back yard tree “to have some fun,” police said.

Raul Cerna, 27, of the 6400 block of San Marcos Way was in custody Sunday under a toughened state law that can make it a felony to shoot a gun wantonly into the air, police said.

A guest at a New Year’s Eve party was the first in Buena Park to test the law after firing a gun into the air in celebration. The 1988 ordinance, which local police said did not take effect until this year, carries a sentence of up to a year in county jail or longer in state prison.

Police said they arrested Cerna after neighbors reported hearing gunshots around 11 p.m. Saturday. He was also arrested on suspicion of delaying and resisting officers on the scene.

“He had been drinking and refused to comply with our orders when he came out of the house, so there was a little struggle,” said Police Sgt. Mike Schwartz.

“He’d been shooting a 12-gauge shotgun at a pine tree in his back yard, and the buckshot was ricocheting and hitting other houses,” Schwartz said. “He said he was just out to have some fun.”