By John F. Hill
Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A man wanted for a parole violation sprayed rounds from an automatic weapon at a police cruiser during a wild chase Sunday morning through Riverside and Rubidoux, police said.
With a Riverside Police Department cruiser in pursuit, an occupant of the car fired many times at officers, hitting the cruiser several times, said police Lt. Chuck Griffitts. Several more shots were fired after the fleeing suspects ditched the car on Twining Street in Rubidoux.
No one was reported hurt. A Riverside County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team cordoned off the neighborhood near Mission Boulevard for hours Sunday while it hunted for the car’s occupants.
The suspected shooter, Mark Wallace, a 30-year-old Riverside man, was taken into custody around 10:45 a.m.
Riverside resident Lisa Marlene Mitchell, 43, also was arrested, Riverside police Sgt. Mark Rossi said in a news release.
As of late Sunday, it could not determined what type of weapon was involved or whether it was recovered by police.
Wallace and Mitchell were booked at Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, weapons charges, felony reckless driving and parole violation, police said.
The two were taken into custody after SWAT officers responded to residences on Twining Street and Fort Drive in Rubidoux, Rossi said in the news release.
The chase began around 4:30 a.m., Griffitts said, when Riverside officers tried to pull over a car Wallace was in. Griffitts said he didn’t know if the officers recognized Wallace, about whom an “officer alert” had been posted for earlier run-ins with police, or if it was a routine traffic stop.
The car took off, leading police on a chase. Griffitts said many shots were fired at police, with some striking the cruiser. It was unclear if Wallace was a passenger or the driver, police said.
Detectives later walked the route of the chase, looking for shell casings and trying to determine how many shots had been fired, Griffitts said.
When the car chase ended on Twining Street, a Sheriff’s Department SWAT team took over. Several more shots were fired while deputies searched the neighborhood, Griffitts said.
No one, including Wallace, was believed to have been injured.
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