Hemet Police Nab Suspects After Intense Manhunt

HEMET -Two men — one of whom allegedly shot at a Hemet police officer while they were fleeing from authorities — were nabbed after an intensive manhunt, police said.

No officers were reported hurt during the incident.

The suspects were identified as Rodrigo Dominguez, 20, and Adam Bustos, 25, both reputed gang members, police said.

The men allegedly fled from a Hemet patrol officer around 3 a.m. after the officer signaled them to stop in the 4500 block of Duskywing Street in southwest Hemet, authorities said. The suspects traveled about a mile before the rented Nissan 300 ZX they were in crashed into a tree and a light standard in front of Harmony Elementary School, 1500 S. Cawston Ave., according to Hemet police.

Police Lt. Duane Wisehart said that as the suspects ran away, one fired two shots from a semiautomatic handgun, striking the driver’s door of the patrol car, but not hitting the officer.

Wisehart said the men then ran north through a parking lot and officers lost sight of them for a time.

“A perimeter was quickly established within the neighborhood, and ultimately a yard-to-yard search with the assistance of police K9s and a bloodhound was conducted,” said Wisehart.

The perimeter covered 10 square blocks, and the search got under way once daylight was available, he said. Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were called in to assist.

Dominguez was discovered around 7:20 a.m. lying in the bed of a pickup truck outside a house on Blue Jay Way, according to Wisehart.

The suspect was arrested without incident.

Bustos was located less than an hour later inside a garage on Hollyvale Lane, where the homeowner spotted him and called police, said Wisehart.

The suspect put up a struggle before being taken into custody, the lieutenant said.

“This was outstanding work, to get a perimeter covering that amount of space that quickly,” he said. The school was cordoned off and classes were canceled for the day while an investigation was conducted and crews cleaned up the crash debris.

Wisehart said both suspects have outstanding felony arrest warrants.

“That probably explains why they ran,” he said. They were arrested on suspicion of felony evading and attempted murder of a peace officer. Both were being held at the Hemet jail and were expected to be transported to the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta later today, according to Wisehart.