Woman in Minivan Plows Into Crowd at Calif. Nightclub

Nov. 16--A 29-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after she intentionally plowed into a crowd, injuring five people, outside a Sonoma County nightclub, officials said Sunday.

The pandemonium erupted shortly after 2:30 a.m. Saturday when Jessica Garcia Leos smashed someone in the mouth with a beer bottle during an altercation outside the El Rey Club at 5344 Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, said Sgt. Cecile Focha, a spokeswoman with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

Someone called 911 while the victim, who was not identified, bled from the mouth. At some point before deputies arrived, Leos got into her minivan and drove into a crowd gathered in the club's parking lot, officials said.

Arriving deputies came upon the chaotic scene with several people wounded around the parking lot, some with major injuries, Focha said. Paramedics rushed five of the injured people to the hospital in ambulances.

Minutes after the attack, authorities found the suspected van a mile away from the club ditched at Ludwig Avenue and Llano Road. The van's airbags had been deployed, and there was damage to the front of the vehicle, authorities said.

Deputies went to the home of the van's registered owner on Dutton Meadows where they found Leos, who had just arrived home and had injured her wrist in the melee, Focha said.

Leos was checked out at a hospital and then arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, causing great bodily injury, attempted murder and DUI. She is being held without bail at the Sonoma County Jail.

Leos is due in Sonoma County Superior Court for arraignment on Tuesday.

Four of the victims were released from the hospital. One person remains in critical condition with "very serious injuries," Focha said.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky

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