HollyMatkinDearborn, MI – A domestic dispute turned into a “driving gun battle” on Wednesday night, and prompted officers to ram into a suspect’s vehicle as he chased down another man, police said (video below).
The incident began at approximately 8:20 p.m. in Melvindale, when a woman’s former boyfriend, Ruben Salinas, showed up at her home, The Detroit News reported.
Salinas and the woman began arguing, at which point the woman’s new boyfriend intervened.
A female neighbor said she heard shouting outside, and witnessed the altercation as it unfolded.
That’s when she saw Salinas with a weapon, she said.
“He pulled a gun out, and he shot the guy…about five or six times,” she told WDIV.
The woman’s unnamed boyfriend, 30, jumped into his Ford F-150, and called 911 as he sped off down the street. Salinas followed closely behind him in a silver Chrysler 300.
“The old boyfriend had weapons, started firing at the new boyfriend,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad told WDIV. “A chase ensued. Multiple shots fired.”
The chase spanned from Melvindale to Dearborn, as the injured man attempted to make his way to Beaumont Hospital, The Detroit News reported.
Salinas fired “dozens” of rounds during the incident, police said.
As the vehicles pulled into the hospital parking lot, one officer rammed his patrol vehicle into the back of Salinas’ car, dashcam footage showed.
The impact sent the officer careening onto a nearby boulevard and sidewalk, where he quickly regained control and got back into position behind the suspect’s vehicle.
Puffs of gun smoke wafted from Salinas’ passenger side window, as he fired multiple rounds towards the F-150 yet again.
The officer then slammed into Salinas’ vehicle for a second time, knocking out the vehicle’s rear window.
“Upon stopping him, the decedent took his life inside his vehicle near the north driveway of the emergency entrance,” Chief Haddad according to The Detroit News.
The woman’s boyfriend was treated for minor injuries, and is expected to recover.
Investigators discovered multiple weapons inside Salinas’ car.
“The decedent was armed with an AR-15 and a handgun,” Chief Haddad said. “It was also discovered this morning there was a third gun tucked in the car.”
Salinas had no criminal history. The weapons were properly registered, and he had a concealed pistol license, police said.
Although Beaumont Hospital was temporarily placed on lockdown, officers successfully prevented the gunman from entering the facility, the chief explained.
“The saving grace tonight is that we have a consolidated dispatch that allowed us to consolidate all this information between Melvindale, Allen Park and our city,” he said. “ And it probably — not probably, it did, in fact allow us to respond at a much quicker speed and save a lot of lives tonight.”
You can see dashcam footage from the pursuit in the video below: