The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A Providence man was arrested after he allegedly fired a shot into a police cruiser where two officers were seated.
The officer had just dropped a crime victim at his home early Friday morning when a man with a gun approached their car.
“They looked directly into his eyes, and then he fired” Detective Maj. Paul Kennedy told The Providence Journal.
A bullet pierced the passenger-side door, where Patrolman James Barros was sitting. Patrolman Lucio Andreozzi hit the gas, moving the cruiser away from the gunman.
The officers then ran after the gunman, not knowing that his weapon had jammed, Kennedy said.
During the chase, the man turned and raised his hands “in a threatening manner,” Kennedy said, and the two officers shot three times at him. One bullet hit a nearby house, but none struck the man.
Police cornered Carlos Gomes, 21, behind his own apartment building, where he was trying to hide between two cars, Kennedy said. A .25-caliber gun was nearby, he said.
Gomes is charged with two counts of assault to commit murder, possession of a firearm without a license, using a firearm while committing a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm after conviction of a crime of violence.
He was arraigned Friday afternoon and ordered held on $200,000 bail with surety. He is also being held as a violator from Superior Court for violating his probation.
Kennedy said that Gomes made some statements about disliking the police, but otherwise the shooting appeared to be random.
“Sometimes it’s not shooting at a person, it’s shooting at a uniform, shooting at the badge,” Kennedy said.