A 19-year-old suspected of robbing a Hemet store today was shot by a police officer at the end of a foot chase during which the bandit allegedly leveled his gun at his pursuers, authorities said.
The officer-involved shooting occurred around 8:45 a.m. near Melrose Avenue and Girard Street, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, which was asked by Hemet police to investigate the incident.
A short time before the gunfire, officers had been called to a strip mall in the 2100 block of East Florida Avenue to investigate an armed robbery, sheriff’s officials said.
While speaking with a witness near the intersection of El Nita Lane and Girard, officers heard shots and immediately focused a block away, where they spotted Jesus Rivera of San Jacinto running west on Melrose, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa McConnell.
Rivera allegedly ran behind a house, with officers not far behind, McConnell said.
“An assisting officer entered the backyard from the side of the house,” McConnell said. “He saw the suspect stop, turn and point his gun in the direction of the pursuing officers. At this time, an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
Rivera suffered a non-life-threatening wound and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
No officers were injured, authorities said.
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I moved to hemet in 97, there weren’t the city was smaller then. Crime want so rampant. I heard that the Temecula mall was supposed to be built in hemet but city counsel wanted to keep it a retirement community. So they turned the project down. Instead they built lots of houses and invited losers from La to move here and fill those houses. These developers never paid attention to the fact that hemet hospital was not able to handle such a larger influx of people into the area. They didn’t think of inviting commerce to give these people jobs. The city now resembles peris CA. Full of parolees from La that were told to leave the county of La or go back to jail. This city is an embarrassment now, massive unemployment, crime and plenty of empty houses that no one wants to buy. Way to think ahead city council. God job keeping it a retirement community.