Photo: Stock Image
Written By: Robert L. McCullough
Santa Barbara County, Ca December 16, 2022 – 24-year-old Santa Maria resident Francisco Gomez might have been in desperate need of a ride to his next location on the afternoon of December 15th when he made the decision to stick a pistol in the face of a driver at a downtown location and make off with the man’s car.
According to Santa Maria Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Dan Cohen, when Santa Maria Police Department Dispatch was alerted to the incident and immediately responded to the scene, it didn’t take them long to spot the stolen car. But when a patrol unit attempted to conduct a traffic stop, “the suspect fled with police in pursuit.” A short distance away, Gomez crashed the hot car and then “exited the stolen vehicle armed with a handgun, leading to an officer-involved shooting.”
Even while wounded by police firepower, Gomez managed to run into a nearby retail store “where he threatened the business owner with the handgun.” Apparently the store owner was having none of it and managed to engage Gomez in a physical struggle, ultimately “disarming the suspect.” At that point, Gomez was taken into custody when it was determined he was suffering from “a gunshot wound in the neck.”
Emergency helicopter medical support was summoned, and in spite of the emergency medical team’s concern that their patient’s condition might be exacerbated by the fact that he was by then handcuffed, Gomez made the trip to the hospital where he was treated for his injuries and stabilized.
Gomez was arrested while in medical care and faces multiple felony charges including “carjacking, evading, false imprisonment, burglary, and assault with a deadly weapon” while further investigation revealed that the weapon he used throughout his rampage “was a BB gun that closely resembled a realistic firearm.”
