Perris Man Arrested In Connection With Violence That Erupted After Peaceful Riverside Protest
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — A Perris man who was on probation for evading police has been arrested in connection with violence that erupted after a peaceful protest in Riverside.
Riverside police say they identified 20-year-old Gabriel Castillo in video of a car that stopped in the intersection of University Avenue and Orange Street. The driver had put a large firework in the street and lit it, before it was grabbed by another person who threw it back into the car, where it exploded.
A group of bystanders and the suspect driver then attacked this person, police said.
The video shows the passenger jumping out of the car just before the firework exploded, then the car rolling backwards in the middle of the intersection.
Castillo was arrested on suspicion of an illegal fireworks violation and probation violations after police conducted a probation search Tuesday at a home in the 26900 block of Placentia Ave in Perris.
Detectives say they need the public's help to identify other suspects who vandalized and looted stores in downtown Riverside on June 1. They continue to look for one man who spray painted graffiti on a city-owned electrical box, another man who tried to hammer his way into a Wells Fargo ATM, a third man who smashed 4 large glass windows at the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, and a fourth who used a metal pipe to try to break through the glass doors of the Game Lab on Market Street. They are also looking for help to identify two different groups of people who broke into and looted a T-Mobile store and tried to break into a Provident Bank ATM.
