Vehicles hit by gunfire. Man arrested in Riverbank in Escalon-area incidents
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday that a man has been arrested for shooting at several vehicles in the River Road area south of Escalon. Most recently, four vehicles were fired upon Tuesday morning — three in San Joaquin and one in Stanislaus County.
No one was injured, but Javier Rivera, 39, faces charges including attempted murder.
Prior to Tuesday and dating back about three months, there were three other vehicles struck and multiple reports of drivers being shot at, San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office public information officer Sandra Mendez said.
The Stanislaus County incident Tuesday was reported about 9:30 a.m. The victim, whom Stanislaus deputies met at Oakdale High School, reported that he was southbound on Valley Home Road approaching Walnut Avenue, north of Oakdale, when he was fired upon, Stanislaus SO spokesman Sgt. Luke Schwartz said.
Deputies took photos of the damage to his vehicle. Schwartz said the victim did not see the gunman or his vehicle.
The San Joaquin department said motorists apparently were chosen at random, and most did not see the gunman or a vehicle so could not provide a description to investigating deputies. Of the four victims Tuesday morning, however, two identified the suspect vehicle as a white sedan.
“Our awesome Crime Analysts did some research of recent contacts with similar vehicles in the area and were able to identify a vehicle,” the San Joaquin news release said. “The associated person with said vehicle had an extensive criminal history and multiple previous contacts with our office.”
San Joaquin deputies, assisted by Stanislaus deputies assigned to Riverbank Police Services located Rivera in an alley in Riverbank. He was in possession of a pistol-size 12-gauge, double-barrel shotgun and a sawed-off pump-action shotgun, according to the San Joaquin department.
He admitted to Tuesday’s shootings and was taken into custody, the SJ Sheriff’s Office said. Rivera faces felony charges including attempted murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, having methamphetamine and shooting at occupied vehicles.
Rivera is known to be transitory and within the past week is believed to have been in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced and Fresno counties. The San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office has contacted law enforcement in those counties to determine if he’s committed shootings there, Mendez said.
Also Tuesday, the California Highway Patrol had two other shooting cases, both on Highway 99. In one, an arrest was made.
A Stockton man, Derrick Terrell Thomas, 25, is charged with attempted murder and other crimes after firing upon the driver of a big rig in Modesto. A round fired from an AR-15 rifle struck the trucker’s door but did not pass through.
The shooting on northbound Highway 99 just north of Pelandale Avenue was reported about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday. As he continued to drive, Thomas brandished his firearm two more times toward other motorists, according to the CHP.
Tuesday night, a 31-year-old man was taken to a hospital after being found with multiple gunshot wounds on southbound Highway 99 at the Collier Road exit in Merced County.
According to the CHP, the victim had been traveling south from the Modesto area and it was unclear where he and when he suffered the gunshot wounds. But it was late enough in the day that Rivera already was in custody and could not have been responsible, Mendez said.
CHP Modesto office spokesman Officer Thomas Olsen said Thursday that he doesn’t believe the three cases to be connected, though “it’s unusual to see similar events surround us in such a short period of time.”
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office asks anyone who has been the victim of a similar shooting or has information on the Rivera investigation to call 209-468-4400, choose option 1 and ask to leave a message for Sgt. Theodore.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 12:03 PM.
