SALINAS — Salinas PD’s new ShotSpotter system proves fruitful yet again after an incident just before midnight in an East Salinas neighborhood last Tuesday.
Police received a report out of the 500 block of Terrace Street. While en route, a second report came in which registered at least 9 shots.
When the first officer arrived, he noticed a vehicle fleeing the area. He gave chase and the vehicle eventually pulled over in the parking lot of an apartment complex which came to a dead end. The officer and his backup confronted the driver — identified as 20-year-old Elijah Gonzalez — who was uncooperative and had to be ordered to the ground at gunpoint.
Officers noticed him reaching toward his pocket/waist and ultimately had to deploy a taser, which proved ineffective. Ultimately, however, he was taken into custody without any shots fired. A subsequent search of his vehicle turned up a loaded semi-automatic pistol under the driver’s seat.
Gonzalez was booked into Monterey County Jail on several weapons charges. Police searched the area where the shots had been reported and found bullet casings, but no people, buildings, or vehicles had been struck.
