Santa Rosa police foot chase ends in gun find, arrest

Calls to Santa Rosa police about a fight at a party led to the arrest of a 19-year-old gang member who tossed a gun as he ran from officers, a Santa Rosa police official said.

Two others also ran but weren’t found as officers searched the West Ninth Street and Rockwell Place neighborhood before dawn Sunday.

Officers headed for West Ninth Street at about 3:50 a.m., looking for a fight callers said involved as many as seven people, reported Sgt. Lisa Banayat in a press release.

Arriving officers saw four males they believed were gang members in an Impala traveling on Rockwell Place and before officers could stop the car three males jumped out and ran.

One suspect chased by an officer ignored commands to stop, pulled something out of his waistband and threw it into an apartment yard at the Puerto Villa complex, Banayat said.

The suspect was stopped by officers at West Ninth Street and Link Lane and a search turned up a handgun in the yard.

Eliezer Reyes Apresa, 19 and a documented gang member, was arrested on suspicion of being a gang member with a gun and resisting arrest. He was taken to the Sonoma County Jail.

The driver of the Impala who didn’t run was identified as a gang member, Banayat said. He was not arrested.