Four loud gunshots rang out on 14th Street in Newhall just before midnight on Sunday night, jolting Carolyn Edwards out of her bed.

Then came desperate cries for help.

The trained nurse ran out of her house, barefoot, clutching a red towel and found a man gushing blood in her neighbor’s driveway.

“I was getting scared because he was going in and out (of consciousness),” Edwards, 50, said. “There was lots of blood. So much blood.”

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s deputies on Monday were searching for the suspect or suspects in the shooting on 14th Street between Walnut and Chestnut streets that left two men in critical condition, said Sgt. Darren Harris.

Investigators aren’t sure how many shooters there were, or what they looked like, but it didn’t appear gang-related, Harris said.

“Whatever the motive, any person or persons that would point-blank shoot at two human beings are very dangerous,” Harris said.

About 11:30 p.m., sheriff’s deputies got a call about the shooting.

Edwards, among the first to see the aftermath, said the man was shot at least twice in the arm and three times in the chest and stomach. She tied the towel around his arm to try and stop the bleeding.

She reassured the 49-year-old man. Another bystander translated her words into Spanish and kept pressure on the man's stomach until paramedics arrived.

She didn’t know another man, 39, had also been shot. He ran into a nearby house to call for help, and friends and relatives took him to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Sheriff’s deputies would not release the names of the victims and the hospital, citing patient privacy, and declined to release details on their conditions.

Deputies recovered several shell casings, clothing and other evidence from the scene, Harris said. Since the investigation was still in its early stages, Harris said he would not go into specifics about the types of evidence that had been recovered because he didn’t want to compromise the investigation.

On Monday afternoon, the street still showed evidence of the previous night’s violence.

Some students walking home from Placerita Junior High School stared and gasped as they passed a dried puddle of blood on the sidewalk between Walnut Street and Chestnut Street.

A shred of blood-soaked gauze, tattered ribbons of yellow police tape and an opened neck brace littered the front of the home where the shooting took place.

A white picket fence nearby was peppered with what appeared to be several bullet holes.  

Several people were in the area when the gunshots were fired, and deputies have already interviewed some, Harris said.

Edwards said sheriff’s deputies interviewed and thanked her for helping the shooting victim. She said most of her neighbors didn’t want to get involved.

“This is totally ridiculous,” Edwards said. “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening on this street. I’ve lived here for 12 years.”