Jury convicts man who fired gunshots at Sacramento police during high-speed pursuit, DA says
A man has been convicted for a 2021 high-speed police pursuit in which he fired a gun at officers while driving recklessly through a Sacramento neighborhood, prosecutors said.
On Thursday, a jury found 23-year-old Ismael Herrera-Mondello guilty of five counts of attempted murder on a police officer, seven counts of assault on a police officer with a semi-automatic firearm and felony evasion of police, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
Herrera-Mondello also was convicted of vehicle theft, three counts of shooting at an inhabited home and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello ran into a home and hid inside, firing gunshots at police throughout the standoff until officers used tear gas to force him out and take him into custody about 8:30 p.m. that night.
The police chase began a few hours earlier on July 7, 2021. Officers spotted a stolen vehicle shortly before 5 p.m. near 65th Street and Fruitridge Road, the Sacramento Police Department has said. The officers tried to pull over the stolen vehicle, but the driver — later identified as Herrera-Mondello — refused to stop.
Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello sped away and drove recklessly through the residential neighborhood, repeatedly firing a semiautomatic gun at officers during the police pursuit. One of the bullets struck a nearby home.
The chase lasted about 10 minutes, before the fleeing stolen vehicle reached a dead end near 38th and Wallace avenues. Police said Herrera-Mondello then got out of the vehicle and ran into Sacramento’s Avondale neighborhood.
Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello ran to the back of a home and tried to get inside by kicking the garage door and breaking a window, before he jumped over a fence into another backyard and broke into the home by firing a gunshot into the back door. Police said he fired a gunshot into a glass door.
A resident inside heard an intruder enter and ran out of the home’s front door. Police surrounded the home. The Police Department’s SWAT team, crisis negotiators and aerial drone teams were called to the home.
A few hours had gone by with little to no movement inside the surrounded house when several officers positioned outside the home reported shots fired at them. Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello, who had positioned himself in the attic and was shooting at officers from a vent not visible to officers, continued to fire at officers and SWAT team members.
Officers used armored vehicles to get closer to the home while facing gunfire. Shortly after the gunshots were fired at the officers, the SWAT team launched teargas into the home, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Herrera-Mondello came out of the home and was taken into custody. Prosecutors said police did not return fire at any point. Police said no residents or officers were injured during the incident; Herrera-Mondello suffered minor injuries.
Prosecutors said officers searched the home and found two semi-automatic handguns and two 9 mm handguns without serial numbers. The officers also found two empty 9 mm ammunition magazines capable of holding 21 and 10 bullets.
All 16 shell casings collected along the path of the police pursuit, the stolen vehicle and affected homes were fired from one of the handguns found inside the home where Herrera-Mondello hid for more than three hours, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Herrera-Mondello remained in custody Monday afternoon at the Sacramento County Jail. He is scheduled to return June 28 for his sentencing in Sacramento Superior Court.
Prosecutors said Herrera-Mondello faces a maximum sentence of 195 years and 8 months to life in prison.
