An 18-year-old Roseville man is facing multiple felony charges after Santa Rosa police say he drove more than 100 miles to threaten an acquaintance with a gun, then rammed a marked patrol vehicle carrying a K9 officer and his canine partner while trying to flee. His mother was also arrested on a felony accessory charge days later, after a regional SWAT team raided the family's Roseville home.
According to the Santa Rosa Police Department, the incident began on September 6 when a victim reported that an acquaintance had threatened to come to his home and shoot him. Officers responded to the 1400 block of Gloria Drive and attempted an investigative traffic stop near the victim's home. The suspect vehicle initially yielded before fleeing, the department says, ramming a marked SRPD patrol vehicle occupied by a K9 officer and his K9 partner in the process. Neither the officer nor the K9 was injured, according to the report, and the suspect then fled the vehicle on foot.
Rapid Police Response Credited With Averting Tragedy
Responding officers located the suspect quickly after receiving information about an armed individual believed to be en route to the victim's home, per the same account. Investigators say the suspect vehicle had been driven with wanton disregard for public safety during the encounter. Santa Rosa police say the officers' rapid response likely averted a potential homicide and prevented a tragic outcome, though the department has not detailed the prior relationship between the suspect and the victim.
The Santa Rosa Police Department's Violent Crimes Investigations team, which the department describes as consisting of five detectives and one sergeant specializing in complex felony cases such as assaults, robberies, and officer-involved incidents, assumed the investigation. A judge signed an arrest warrant for the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Fox Wheeler of Roseville, on September 6. Santa Rosa police also obtained a search warrant for Wheeler's Roseville residence as the case developed.
Warrant Lists Assault, Threats and Firearm Violations
Wheeler's arrest warrant included Penal Code Section 245(c), assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, a charge that under California law is a straight felony that cannot be reduced to a misdemeanor when a suspect uses an object such as a vehicle to endanger an on-duty officer, according to Cron, Israels & Stark. Conviction carries a potential state prison sentence of three, four, or five years. The warrant also included Penal Code Section 422(a), criminal threats, which requires proof that a statement willfully threatened death or great bodily injury and placed the victim in reasonable, sustained fear; the offense counts as a serious strike under California's Three Strikes law if charged as a felony, according to the Eisner Gorin LLP law firm.
Additional counts named in the warrant were Penal Code Section 182(a)(1), conspiracy, and Penal Code Sections 29820 and 25850(a), which govern carrying a loaded firearm. Section 29820 bars individuals adjudged wards of the juvenile court for certain serious or violent offenses from possessing firearms until age 30, according to the Shouse Law Group. Separately, Section 25850(a) can elevate carrying a loaded firearm in public from a misdemeanor to a felony if the suspect is not the registered owner of the weapon with the California Department of Justice, per the Wallin & Klarich law firm.
Shotgun Found in Abandoned Vehicle's Trunk
Officers were unable to locate the suspect during an extensive search following the September 6 incident, the department's report states. During that search, officers recovered a loaded, unregistered pump-action shotgun that had been concealed in the trunk of the suspect's abandoned vehicle. A second occupant of the vehicle, described as a female in her late teens, was arrested on a conspiracy charge under Penal Code 182(a)(1); the department's account does not identify her further or describe her disposition beyond the arrest.
Four days later, on September 10, a Joint Regional SWAT Team served Wheeler's arrest warrant and executed a search warrant at a Roseville residence. The tactical unit is a partnership between the Roseville Police Department and the Rocklin Police Department, both of which assisted the broader investigation, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Fox Wheeler was taken into custody without incident. Authorities also seized clothing and electronic devices related to the case during the search.
Mother Booked on Felony Accessory Charge
Santa Rosa VCI detectives also arrested Wheeler's mother, 51-year-old Amber Wheeler of Roseville, on a felony accessory charge. She was booked into the Placer County detention center on a charge of felony accessory after the fact under Penal Code Section 32. That statute defines accessory after the fact as harboring, concealing, or aiding a principal after a felony has been committed with the intent to help them avoid arrest or prosecution, and it carries a punishment of up to three years in state prison, according to the KEG Law Firm. The department's release does not specify what actions led investigators to file the accessory charge against her.
The roughly 107-mile route between Roseville and Gloria Drive in Santa Rosa runs through major Northern California corridors including Interstate 80 and State Route 37 or 12, a drive of about two hours, according to Rome2Rio. That distance underscores how far the alleged confrontation traveled from the Placer County suburb where both suspects lived to the Sonoma County neighborhood where the threat was reported. The Santa Rosa Police Department is tracking the case under case number 26-9793.
