Tracy police followed a trail of blood, muddy footprints and frantic telephone calls that took them from an alley north of Kavanagh Avenue to a neighborhood off MacArthur Drive between 10:15 and 11:30 p.m. Sunday after residents near North School reported a gang fight involving more than a dozen men.

Police said several men got into a fight Sunday and that a group of men in a dark green car pulled up and started shooting. At least one man got hit. Everyone ran off before police arrived.

The suspected shooter who got thrown into a window during the fight took off on foot, his chest bloodied from the glass, which still litters the driveway outside a townhome in the alleyway, according to Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman.

Police described him as a thin, dark-skinned man of an unknown race in his mid-20s.

Several .22-caliber shell casings littered the ground outside the alley home off Holly Drive after the late-night fallout.

Police called for help from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol to find the shooter, and blocked off four city blocks during the search.

Dispatchers fielded calls from several people who reportedly saw a blood-covered man jumping fences and running first south toward Alvarado Way and then over the canal and across the railroad tracks northeast toward MacArthur Drive.

Residents near the alleyway said they were woken up by gunshots, sirens and shouting.

“There are a lot of fights around here,” said Felix Barragan, who lives two doors down from the alley where police said the brawl started. “I saw police run down the alley there and talk to some people. They blocked off the street.”

By the time a crime scene was set up, the suspect had already run about three-quarters of a mile away.

Folks at Green Oaks Mobile Home Park off MacArthur Drive said a man jumped over the fence at the back of the park, leaving behind muddy footprints from a nearby canal and a trail of blood droplets. A caller whose fence the man broke when he hopped over it said people started screaming when they saw the bloodied man hobble toward the front of the park.

His next reported appearance was in a neighboring subdivision.

Marleen — who asked to withhold her name for fear of gang retaliation — said a young man showed up at her door about 45 minutes after police got the first call about the fight. The man’s shirt was covered in blood, she said.

Her mentally disabled uncle who lives with her was out on the porch smoking a cigarette Sunday and said the bloodied man asked him for help. The suspect grabbed the uncle’s jacket, leaving a bloodstain. The uncle didn’t know what to do, and panicked, Marleen said, and sent the suspect on his way.

Before he took off, though, he left a pool of blood on the porch, which police daubed up for genetic evidence.

The man on the run then took off toward Grover Park, a block away, she said. By the time police showed up, he was nowhere to be seen. Neighbors suspect he was picked up by a car, because that’s where the blood droplets end.

“There were, like, 35 cops out here last night,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going on. We’re still trying to figure that out.”

Police said they don’t know yet whether fight was gang-related. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Tracy Crimestoppers at 831-6847.

• Contact Tracy Press reporter Jennifer Wadsworth at 830-4225 or jwadsworth@tracypress.com.