A convicted felon with an outstanding warrant was arrested Thursday after allegedly firing multiple shots at officers while attempting to flee from police, the Citrus Heights Police Department said in a news release.
Police said the incident began around 8 a.m. on Sept. 1 after officers received a call regarding a suspicious person looking into parked cars at Northwoods Park, near Old Ranch Road and Oak Avenue. An officer found the suspect sleeping in a vehicle on the 8200 block of Old Ranch Road, where the man provided identification and admitted to being on probation.
While talking to the officer, police said the man “began acting suspiciously and appeared very nervous.” After being asked if he had anything illegal inside the vehicle, the man became uncooperative and the officer attempted to detain him using “an open hand control hold,” according to police spokesman Anthony Boehle, who authored the news release.
Boehle said the suspect then “pulled away from the officer [and] fled the area in the vehicle at a high rate of speed.” The vehicle subsequently crashed just a block away, after the suspect lost control and nearly hit a house.
“During the investigation, it was learned that just after fleeing, the subject fired several rounds through the rear window of his vehicle at the pursuing officers,” Boehle said. A gun holster and several loaded handguns were also found in the suspect’s vehicle.
Although suffering a head injury in the collision, police said the suspect tried to flee the vehicle as officers approached. The man, identified only as a 33-year-old male from Sacramento, was arrested and then transported to a local hospital for injuries sustained in the crash. Upon release from the hospital, police said he will be booked in the Sacramento County Main Jail.
Boehle said charges include “attempted murder of a police officer, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, felony evading, obstructing/delaying police officer, convicted felon in possession of a firearm, convicted felon in possession of ammunition, and violation of probation.”
Witnesses, or anyone with information about the incident, are encouraged to contact CHPD at (916) 727-5500. No officers were injured in Thursday’s incident, and no city vehicles were damaged.
