Covelo man, 22, wanted for assault with deadly weapon

The Mendocino County SWAT team continued searching Wednesday for a 22-year-old Covelo man who shot at two men with a pistol and rifle.

According to a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office release, Weston Riley showed up to his mother’s property at 2 a.m. and demanded a vehicle he felt belonged to him from the caretaker, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in an statement. The caretaker refused and after a brief argument Riley left.

He returned just after 3 p.m. and after cursing and banging on the home’s door the caretaker called two male friends for help, the release said.

When the two men, ages 65 and 53, told Riley to leave the property, he fired twice at them with a pistol. As the men ran to their vehicle for safety, Riley took a rifle from a shed and fired twice before the weapon jammed.

The SWAT team initially believed Riley might be barricaded in a structure on the property, but a later search determined he’d left the area.

Riley, described as 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing around 110 pounds is wanted for felony assault with a deadly weapon. His whereabouts are unknown, the Sheriff’s Office said.

-Nick Rahaim