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Police Deter Suspects In Rural Shooting Case
escalon-police-department

 

A Saturday night drive-by shooting – in which multiple rounds were fired at a home on Kelly Road, off Steinegul outside Escalon – resulted in no injuries but saw five people detained by Escalon Police.

Authorities said the incident occurred just after 8:35 p.m. Saturday, June 3 when a caller reported his home had been shot at by subjects in a passing car, with additional shots fired as the vehicle left the scene. None of the shots struck the home, the victim indicated. He then reportedly followed the vehicle and Escalon Police Officer Matt Price was on patrol when he got a description of the vehicle.

The shooting occurred in the county area, under the Sheriff’s Department jurisdiction, but Officer Price located the car near the intersection of Highway 120 and McHenry.

“He got in behind the vehicle and made a traffic stop on it as it began to enter a trailer park at First Street and McHenry,” explained Escalon Police Chief Mike Borges. “Because of the nature of the call, they did a high risk traffic stop, Officer Price was assisted by Sgt. (Milt) Medeiros, and they were ordering people out of the vehicle at gunpoint.”

There were a total of five people in the vehicle, added the chief, and one of them – a 20-year-old man from Escalon – began yelling profanities at officers as he got out of the car and then attempted to flee the scene. Officer Price and Sgt. Medeiros were eventually able to get him under control and place him in a patrol car.

“As the other occupants of the car were getting out, people from nearby residences started coming out to see what was going on,” Borges said.

Escalon officers were assisted on the call by Ripon Police, an additional Escalon unit responding and the Sheriff’s Department also responded to take the suspects into custody, since the shooting occurred in the county area.

The 20-year-old, who was a passenger in the vehicle, also had a complaint filed against him by Escalon Police for resisting arrest and attempting to interfere with a peace officer. A search of the vehicle resulted in a handgun being recovered in the back seat, said Borges.

Those detained included a 16-year-old male from Escalon, a 16-year-old male from Modesto, a 28-year-old man from Manteca, a 22-year-old man from Modesto and the 20-year-old man from Escalon.

“The five subjects and the handgun were turned over to the sheriff’s office for their investigation,” Borges said.

The investigation took about two hours to complete, the chief added, with final units clearing the scene just before 10:45 p.m.