A Texas man was arrested Wednesday after shooting at vehicles on the 210 Freeway and holding two ambulance crew members at gunpoint in Irwindale before leading officers on a pursuit, officials said.
Irwindale police got a call around 6:30 a.m. about an armed man holding ambulance crew members at gunpoint in the 600 block of Live Oak Avenue.
While officers were headed to the scene, the ambulance crew reported that the man had fled the area in a red Peterbilt semi-truck that was pulling a trailer.
Police spotted the large truck in the area of Longden and Myrtle avenues and tried to initiate a traffic stop.
But the man didn’t yield, and it kick-started a short, slow-speed yet dangerous pursuit that ended in Monrovia on Peck Road at Wyland Way, Irwindale Police Department officials said in a news release.
The driver stopped the semi-truck, got out and tried to run away, police said.
“The officers were forced to physically detain the suspect, during which an electro-muscular disruption technology (EMDT) device was successfully deployed,” Irwindale police officials said in a news release. “He was then arrested without further incident.”
Officials said they found a loaded handgun in the suspect’s possession at the time of his arrest.
Police later learned that the same suspect had earlier fired the gun on the the 210 Freeway between the cities of Rancho Cucamonga and Azusa, officials said.
At one point, the suspect had fired on a stopped vehicle, forcing the driver to run across the freeway, according to police.
And in another instance, the suspect shot into an occupied vehicle, striking it with gunfire, authorities said.
“Luckily no one was injured in any of these incidents,” Irwindale police said.
The suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Johnathan Gomez of Texas, was booked into a West Covina jail on $1 million bail.
He faces multiple criminal charges, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, evading arrest, driving under the influence of drugs and several weapons violations, according to police.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Diego Cornejo at 626-430-2290 or dcornejo@irwindaleca.gov. Information may also be provided anonymously by calling 800-222-TIPS or via www.lacrimestoppers.org.
