Eureka Police Dept. search for suspect in shooting

Detective Sergeant Patrick O’Neill            (707) 268-5261

 

 On 7-25-2011 at about 1728 hours, the Eureka Police Dispatch center received calls concerning a traffic collision that took place on H Street and 14^th Street.  As the information was being obtained from the callers, the dispatchers began receiving calls that shots had been fired at the scene of the collision. Officers were dispatched to the scene.

 Upon the officers’ arrival, they located a red SUV which had collided into the rear of a parked vehicle. Officers contacted the driver of the red SUV and discovered that she had several gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel were summoned and the driver was treated and transported to St. Joseph ER.  Upon inspecting the red SUV, officers saw that there were several gunshots holes into the windshield of the vehicle.

While the victim was being treated, officers began securing the crime scene and identifying witnesses. Detectives and evidence technicians soon arrived to process the scene. Based on witness interviews, it appears that a silver sedan and the red SUV were traveling s/b on H Street at about the 1000 block, when the red vehicle rear ended the silver sedan several times. As this took place the driver of the silver sedan fired several shots through the rear window of his vehicle into the windshield of the red SUV. The silver sedan then fled southbound on H Street, while the red SUV drifted into a parked vehicle.

One of the witnesses to the incident noted the license plate number of the silver sedan and relayed that to Detectives. A data base check of the registered owner of the silver sedan revealed a possible address for him at the 800 block of H Street in Eureka. The silver sedan was located parked across the street from this location.

Officers set up a perimeter around the location (an apartment building), while a request was made to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for the deployment of their SWAT team, due to the violent nature of the incident.

A search warrant and arrest warrant was sought and obtained for the registered owner of the silver sedan. The registered owner was identified as Mark Anthony Nelson. Nelson is a Black Male Adult, 6-1, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

After obtaining the warrants the apartment building was evacuated and the occupants were offered alternate housing arrangements, until it was safe for them to return.

After the apartment building was evacuated, Nelson’s apartment was breeched by the SWAT team. A search of the apartment was conducted, but Nelson was not there.

Nelson is wanted for assault with a firearm and is to be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Nelson is urged to contact the Eureka Police Department dispatch center at 707-441-4044 or Det. Wilcox at 707-441-4315 

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