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By Glynn Wilson
Yosemite Radio Station Manager and News Director
COULTERVILLE, Calif. – There was a potentially armed man on the loose in the woods around Coulterville on Wednesday. Mariposa County Sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers were in pursuit using drones and dogs to try to find the fugitive.
According to eye witness accounts, a man of Latino origin stopped on the bridge over Maxwell Creek on State Route 49 just south of State Route 132 and tried to rob Delbert “Dell” McKinney, a resident of Coulterville, and was then involved in a hit and run car crash, according to other witnesses. He reportedly jumped out of the car and ran off into the woods west of town.
“I was just walking over the bridge and a short Hispanic guy got out and asked me to give him some money,” Dell said. “I told him I didn’t have any money and walked off.”
Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol and Fire Department vehicles block the bridge over Maxwell Creek along Highway 49 in Coulterville. Photo by Glynn Wilson
A paramedic in an ambulance, stopped in front of the Coulterville Cafe and Yosemite Radio Station office in the Gazzolo building across the street, said the man threw a gun at someone before running off, but it turned out to be a knife. He said police were using drones and police dogs to track the suspect since no helicopter was available at the time.
I heard yelling in Spanish on the bridge late Wednesday morning, then the sirens from at least three police vehicles, an ambulance and a firetruck and then saw the bridge blocked off to emergency traffic only. A code 3 went out over police radio, according to Coulterville Fireman Nick Mochetti.
Another Coulterville resident who did not want to be identified said she was parked outside of town around noon when a man in apparent distress came to her window and stated he needed help. When she rolled down the window, the guy yanked the door open and began grabbing stuff, including her cell phone. A passer-by saw what they thought was something amiss and parked behind her, at which time the man attacked them waving a baseball bat, then fled down Highway 49 and began hitting parked cars.
After police arrived on the scene, other witnesses said the guy threw a knife at police officers and punched one officer in the face, before fleeing on foot.
State and county police and fire officials on the scene said they could not share any information at the time, but confirmed they were searching for a man who left a silver-grey car with a broken window on the bridge and ran off down the hill towards the creek and into the woods.
- With reporting from Jim Rhodes, Operation New Earth and Yosemite Radio
THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE
The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office issued the following update on it’s Facebook page.
LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY:
ORIGINAL POST: CHP assisted by our office are searching for a suspect along Highway 49 between Coulterville and Mary Harrison Mine Road. There is a large law enforcement presence. The subject they are looking for is part of a potential hit and run as well as other damage to vehicles and a potential assault. Please avoid the area.
UPDATE: Our office has cleared the area. This investigation is being handled by the California Highway Patrol. All additional information will be handled by their office.
Sources say a man was taken into custody and arrested early Thursday morning. We are in touch with California HIghway Patrol Public Information officials and will post an update with the official report ASAP.
Audio/Video
OFFICIAL POLICE REPORT
According to the official police report and press release from the California State Highway Patrol Public Information office in Jamestown, officers were dispatched on Wednesday at about 12:49 p.m. with reports of a man striking vehicles with a baseball bat on State Route 49, just south of State Route 132, in Coulterville.
An officer from Sonora arrived on scene and later identified the suspect as 49-year-old
Moises Gutierrez Mares of Hawthorne, Calif., who was attempting to enter uninvolved vehicles that were passing by. As the officer attempted to take the suspect into custody, the suspect physically assaulted the officer, causing minor injuries, before fleeing the scene on foot into a wooded area.
A search was conducted with assistance from the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, including the use of a drone and the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office K-9 units. Due to darkness, the search was eventually discontinued Wednesday night and the suspect remained at large.
Capture Updated
Early Thursday morning, the Highway Patrol was notified that the suspect had been located outside of a structure on private property near the area from which he fled. Officers responded to the location, and the suspect was taken into custody and booked into the Mariposa County Jail on felony charges.
Sources say the suspect was found and arrested early Thursday morning on the Moon Shine Ranch owned by Stephen and MaryAnn Huff on Crown Lead Road south of Coulterville. Marty Fuentes, who works on the ranch, talked to the guy and gave him a soda and a bologna sandwich and told him to move on off the property, he told me in an interview on Sunday.
But the guy said he needed to sleep for a couple of hours and didn’t leave. So Marty went next door to Darla McAlister’s place and the cops were called and they found him and arrested him there on the ranch. Apparently he was not a legal resident and already had outstanding criminal charges against him.
Final Update
California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Steven Machado, in Sonora, said there was no gun involved in the incident, only a knife in a case, which the perpetrator threw at the patrol vehicle before assaulting the officer on the scene by punching him in the face and then escaping into the woods west of State Route 49. He confirmed the suspect was captured on the Moon Shine Ranch and is being held in the Mariposa County Jail facing charges of vandalism, grand theft, carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm.
More information will be forthcoming when the suspect appears in court.
Comments
2 responses
Is this a short, Spanish speaking Hispanic man who also speaks English?
We have no idea. Talking to California Highway Patrol Public Information officers and waiting on an official report.