DA charges 5 Bay Area juveniles after gunfire exchange with officers
Police chief gives new details on battle during last month’s pursuit of suspects
Police released new details including word of multiple charges by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office against four juveniles arrested after a pursuit and gunfire exchange with officers, as well as a fifth arrested a day later, authorities said.
In prior statements the week that followed, police outlined preliminary information about the incident, followed by th disclosure of involved officers’ names.
In a video statement Monday, police said an ongoing investigation meant no body-worn camera footage of the incident was available to share but eventually would be released after court cases’ completion. Fremont Police Chief Kimberly Peterson then recounted case specifics, providing new details.
Peterson said the suspicious vehicle that sped away from the rear of the Northport shopping center Feb. 9 was a gray 2003 BMW, and that Fremont police Officer Andrew Dennis, patrolling the center in a marked patrol vehicle, learned during a records check that it had been reported stolen Feb. 5 out of Redwood City.
Footage filmed inside Dennis’ vehicle shows the pursuit that led officers to an open field at the end of Stevenson Boulevard.
As Dennis and another officer, Jeffrey Carter, pursued the juveniles into the field, a 17-year-old Hayward teen turned and fired at the officers several times. The officers returned fire before taking cover, Peterson said, and sent word that they had been shot at with a rifle.
Other officers from multiple agencies, including Newark, Union City and East Bay Regional Park district police and California Highway Patrol officers, helped set up a perimeter around the field, joining Fremont police’s SWAT team alongside K-9 officers.
Soon after, officers found a 16-year-old East Palo Alto boy near a fenced area, and he surrendered to officers. The Hayward teen surrendered about 20 minutes later, police said.
During the perimeter setup, officers learned around 5:55 p.m. that the suspects who fled officers appeared to match several involved in a home invasion robbery at a motel behind the shopping center. According to police, the victim had been in a room with a female friend when suspects armed with rifles and a handgun broke in, forced him into a bathroom and took off with his phone and keys to a 2005 Chevy Cruze. The victim later left to find the female friend gone, and investigators managed to find surveillance video that showed the Chevy being driven away.
Shortly before 7:30 p.m., a CHP air unit saw two people, later identified as 14and 15-year-olds from East Palo Alto, hiding in the field, and directed officers to approach them. One complied with officers’ orders to surrender, but the other kept hiding, then fought a K-9 sent to pursue him until officers fired a less-lethal 40 millimeter foam-impact round at him and soon arrested him afterward. That teen was taken to a hospital for treatment of canine-bite injury and later was cleared for booking.
A search of the field yielded an AR-15 with blue hand guards, a Glock handgun and a .22-caliber Mossberg 715P, Peterson said.
A day later, a city automated license plate reader registered the Chevy Cruze, alerting officers who soon responded to the area of Mission Boulevard and Decoto Road. There officers found the car, detained four occupants including the female friend, identified as a 16-year-old Hayward female, and recovered the robbery victim’s cellphone in the car.
According to police, the 17-year-old Hayward boy was charged in juvenile court with attempted murder of two police officers and assault with a firearm on two police officers, residential robbery and personal use of a firearm during commission of felonies.
The 15- and 16-year-old East Palo Alto boys were charged in juvenile court with home invasion robbery and personal use of a firearm during commission of a crime, and the 14-yearold East Palo Alto boy was charged in juvenile court with home invasion robbery and felony evading. The 16-year-old Hayward girl was charged in juvenile court with home invasion robbery and possession of stolen property, Peterson said.