By Sarah Burge
The Press Enterprise
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Deputies shot a 27-year-old man Sunday night in Menifee, the second time in less than a week that Riverside County sheriff’s deputies have opened fire on a person they say menaced them with a vehicle.
Jeremy Rodriguez, 27, was shot about 11:30 p.m. by deputies trying to serve a warrant for his arrest, a sheriff’s news release said.
Deputies said they found Rodriguez in a stolen vehicle parked outside a home on Hershey Court, a small cul-de-sac off Sun City Boulevard. Two deputies fired when Rodriguez ignored orders to get out of the truck, instead driving toward them “in a dangerous manner,” the release said.
Rodriguez was taken to a hospital for treatment and was expected to recover, the release said.
The deputies, whose names were not disclosed, were placed on paid administrative leave, which is the department’s procedure in officer-involved shootings, the release said.
On Friday, a Lake Elsinore deputy shot a man who, according to sheriff’s officials, tried to run him over during a traffic stop. Officials said Monday that the man, 20-year-old Arturo Fernandez, of Lake Elsinore, died later at a hospital.
Monday afternoon, a pool of Rodriguez’s blood could be seen in the driveway outside the Hershey Court home of Filbert Montano.
Montano said Rodriguez lives in Murrieta and had been dating his 21-year-old stepdaughter. The police knocked on his door looking for Rodriguez on Sunday night, he said. Montano said he told them Rodriguez wasn’t there, not realizing he was in the backyard with his stepdaughter.
The deputies found Rodriguez in a pickup parked in the driveway behind the house, Montano said. Rodriguez accelerated in an apparent attempt to escape and the deputies opened fire, Montano said. Four shots struck Rodriguez, who crashed through the driveway gate and into the garage wall.
Montano said the deputies fired at least a dozen shots, one of which struck the house next door, he said, pointing to a bullet hole near the roofline.
Montano said the deputies were justified in shooting at Rodriguez.
“It was his fault,” Montano said, adding that he told his stepdaughter to stay away from Rodriguez.
Sheriff’s officials did not disclose details about the arrest warrant, but Riverside County court records show Rodriguez was charged earlier this month with being a felon in possession of a handgun.
A deputy’s statement in support of an arrest warrant says Montano called deputies to his home in late April after Rodriguez refused to move his vehicle from the property, cursed at Montano and threatened to beat him up. Rodriguez also threatened to shoot Montana’s stepdaughter then kill himself, the deputy wrote. Rodriguez was gone by the time deputies arrived, but his SUV was still there with a loaded handgun inside, the deputy wrote.
Court records show Rodriguez has prior convictions for assault, burglary and drug-related charges.
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