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Top Posts Sep 10, 2021
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A Texas man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly holding paramedics at gunpoint and leading local police on a slow-speed pursuit that ultimately ended with him being tased along a roadside in Monrovia. Following his arrest, further investigation revealed his alleged connection to several shootings on the 210 freeway.
The extended incident began Wednesday at 6:37 a.m., when law enforcement received a report of a suspect holding two ambulance members at gunpoint on the 600 block of Live Oak Avenue in Irwindale, according to Irwindale PD.
The ambulance crew informed arriving officers that the suspect fled the scene in a 2015 Peterbilt tractor-trailer. After sweeping the area, officers found the suspect vehicle near the intersection of Longden Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in Irwindale. They attempted a traffic stop, but the vehicle failed to yield and continued on, initiating a slow-speed pursuit that ultimately ended near Peck Road and Wyland Way in Monrovia.
“The suspect immediately got out of the semi-truck and began to flee on foot, ignoring the officer’s commands. The officers were forced to physically detain the suspect, during which an electro-muscular disruption technology (EMDT) device was successfully deployed. He was then arrested without further incident,” read the Irwindale PD release on the incident.
The suspect, 37-year-old El Paso, Texas resident Johnathan Gomez, was arrested and booked into West Covina Jail after being medically cleared at a local hospital. He faces charges of attempted murder, assault with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, resisting arrest, evading arrest, driving under the influence of drugs and various weapons violations.
A loaded handgun was allegedly found in Gomez’s possession at the time of his arrest.
According to county jail records, Gomez was arrested at 6:48 a.m., 11 minutes after the alleged extended crime spree was first reported.
Gomez is also suspected in a series of local freeway shootings, according to Irwindale PD.
“It was found that the same suspect and vehicle were involved in a number of other incidents on the I-210 (Foothill Freeway) between the cities of Rancho Cucamonga and Azusa in which the suspect brandished and fired the firearm,” read the Irwindale PD release on the incident. In one instance, the suspect fired upon a disabled motorist, forcing him to run across the freeway and in another instance, the suspect fired into an occupied vehicle, striking the vehicle with gunfire.”
No one was injured in the above-mentioned freeway shootings.
The Irwindale Police Department is working in conjunction with the California Highway Patrol to investigate this, and other incidents that Gomez is potentially tied to.
Gomez is being held on $1,000,000 bail. He was set to appear in Citrus Municipal Court at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Anyone with pertinent information relating to these incidents is urged to contact Irwindale PD Detective Diego Cornejo at (626) 430-2290 or by email at dcornejo@irwindaleca.gov. To issue an anonymous tip online, go to lacrimestoppers.org.
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