By Gregory Smith
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A man who had been charged with attempted murder in a highway shooting over the summer led the police on a high-speed chase on another highway early yesterday morning after he fired a gun into his ex-girlfriend’s sport-utility vehicle, the police said.
Yesterday’s chase ended with the suspect, Juan Salas, 21, of 44 Croyland Rd., crashing his car into a guardrail on the Route 95 north on-ramp from the Route 6-10 connector and fighting with a policeman before he was apprehended, according to the police.
Salas allegedly had in his car two handguns that he had stolen from the console of a parked car in Cranston the day before. One of the guns, an FNH-USA brand 28-caliber semiautomatic pistol capable of firing a rifle round, is a type that the police rarely see on the street, said Detective Capt. Hugh T. Clements Jr.
This week the police seized five handguns in four different incidents over three consecutive nights, the last incident being the shooting and chase.
This year, the police said they have seized nearly 100 firearms and they want to continue a tactic of aggressively enforcing traffic laws because traffic stops often uncover serious gun crimes.
“This was good work,” Maj. Paul C. Fitzgerald said of this week’s seizures and arrests. “Let’s stop the cars and get the [flashing] red lights going.”
Shortly before 3 a.m. yesterday, Sgt. Bernard “Teddy” Gannon, who was on patrol, heard gunshots and noticed an SUV backing up at a high speed with its headlights off. As Gannon pulled in behind the SUV with the emergency lights flashing on his cruiser — the SUV by then was being driven on Elmwood Avenue — a second vehicle sped by him. The second car, the police later determined, was operated by Salas.
The SUV driver gestured at the second vehicle, indicating the origin of the shots, and Gannon began pursuit. The chase reached a speed of more than 110 mph on Route 10 north, according to the police, until the car being pursued failed to pass a tractor-trailer truck on the 95 north on-ramp and crashed.
A female passenger emerged from the wreck, and Gannon pulled an allegedly resistant Salas from the driver’s seat. A struggle ensued in which Gannon struck Salas with his metal baton, according to the police, before he was apprehended. Salas was treated for cuts and bruises at Rhode Island Hospital and it was unclear if the passenger was injured.
The suspect was in custody at police headquarters last night, facing nine new criminal charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon, and numerous civil traffic offenses.
The assault charge arises from the allegation that he fired four shots at an SUV occupied by his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children, Elizabeth Mendez, 22, of 144 Hamilton St., outside a party at 149 Stanwood St. One or two of the bullets hit the SUV, with one protruding from the front passenger seat.
Salas already has at least three charges pending against him from the state police, including attempted murder, stemming from an incident on May 31. The state police said Salas fired a gun from one moving car at another on Route 95 during a chase and that four bullets struck the other car. Also, there were four pending arrest warrants from Rhode Island and Massachusetts police departments charging him with counts as serious as aggravated assault.
Copyright 2007 The Providence Journal