SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) — The Santa Rosa Police Department is investigating an incident in which several vehicles rammed the gate of a marijuana dispensary early Monday morning in an attempted burglary. Santa Rosa PD received a call from the dispensary at around 3:18 a.m., according to a news release from SRPD.
A vehicle had rammed the gate of the dispensary, which was located in the 1800 block of Ferdinand Court. Four vehicles entered the dispensary’s parking lot and were confronted by an armed security guard, police said. The suspects fled in their vehicles before police arrived on the scene.
The security guard provided police dispatchers with descriptions of the vehicles and surrounding agencies were notified. The vehicles were described as:
- A black mid-size SUV
- Two silver SUVs
- A black Mercedes Benz sedan
SRPD also received a separate report from someone who saw four vehicles with covered license plates exit Highway 101 at Bicentennial Way. A short while later, a Santa Rosa PD officer patrolling a cannabis dispensary on Piner Road saw a group of vehicles and realized they matched the description of the suspect vehicles. The vehicles also had covered license plates.
SRPD officers attempted a traffic stop on the vehicles but they got onto Highway 101 headed south. The vehicles led officers on a high-speed pursuit, reaching speeds of around 100 mph.
One vehicle got of the freeway at Todd Road during the pursuit. Officers lost sight of that vehicle and terminated the pursuit. SRPD officers continued pursuing the other three until they reached Cotati Grade on Hwy 101 where the other vehicles disappeared into the fog and the pursuit was terminated.
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Officers with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol located the suspect vehicles and continued the pursuit into Petaluma. A Petaluma PD officer deployed a spike strip and disabled one vehicle, police said. Two of that vehicle’s occupants fled into the nearby woods on foot and escaped. The vehicle, which had been leased, was towed back to Santa Rosa as evidence.
CHP officers also received a report of a vehicle blocking lanes on eastbound I-580. SRPD officers learned it was another of the suspect vehicles that had run out of gas. The occupants of the stranded vehicle were picked up by another suspect vehicle.
An investigation into the attempted burglary and subsequent chase remains ongoing.
