Suspect arrested after firing shots at officers during multi-county pursuit identified
Authorities have identified the man who led a nearly hour-long pursuit through several Southern California counties Friday afternoon, at many times firing shots out of an allegedly stolen vehicle.
Benjamin Gonzalez, a 44-year-old Los Angeles man, remained behind bars on Saturday following the multi-county incident. He is currently being held on $1 million bail.
The pursuit began at around 3 p.m., when Corona Police Department officers are said to have been contacted by Ontario Police Department investigators seeking assistance in locating a hit-and-run driver connected to an incident in Chino. After the suspect was located, when officers attempted to stop the suspect on Ontario Avenue in Corona, the suspect fled.
Officers state that there was no pursuit at this time due to Gonzalez's dangerous driving and the heavy traffic in the area.
The suspect was located a short time later, however, at a Shell gas station in the 1500 block of E. Ontario Avenue. At this time, Gonzalez is said to approached a man at the gas station while armed with a rifle before stealing his pickup truck and fleeing the scene.
Gonzalez allegedly fired at least one round during the carjacking, but the victim was not injured.
He led pursuing law enforcement units from several agencies through Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles County before the pursuit came to an abrupt stop in Harbor City at around 4:15 p.m., when he sideswiped a Los Angeles School Police Department vehicle, which was completely uninvolved in the pursuit, before slamming into a light pole.
Gonzalez attempted to run again, approaching several vehicles and attempting to open their doors before he was tackling by officers chasing on foot. He was arrested by members of both the Corona Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
At several times during the pursuit, with Sky-CAL overhead, muzzle flashes and plumes of smoke could be seen out of the stolen vehicle's window, as Gonzalez fired shots at pursuing officers. He was allegedly armed with a high-caliber semiautomatic weapon, a statement said.
Gonzalez was injured by gunfire during the pursuit and hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries after his arrest. It was not immediately clear how he was shot.
Police maintain that Gonzalez has a "violent criminal history," and the pursuit was the latest in a long history of criminal events, though they did not provide any further information.
