A vehicle chase through Stockton just after 12:30 a.m. Thursday ended with San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies opening fire near the Interstate 5 on-ramp at March Lane, after the driver allegedly tried to use his car to assault one of them. The suspect, 27-year-old Julio Llerenas, was arrested a short time later near Melbourne Avenue and Acacia Street and booked into San Joaquin County Jail with bail set at $140,000.
According to CBS Sacramento, deputies first tried to stop Llerenas's vehicle near South Tuxedo and North Pershing avenues, but he refused to pull over. The pursuit continued to the southbound I-5 on-ramp at March Lane, where deputies opened fire after what the outlet describes as an apparent vehicle assault attempt. The driver kept going after shots were fired, and neither deputies nor Llerenas were hurt in the incident, the station reports.
Booking records released Thursday by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office lay out the specific charges Llerenas now faces: felony assault on a peace officer under Penal Code 245(c), felony evading under Vehicle Code 2800.2(a), resisting an executive officer under Penal Code 69, and an enhancement under Penal Code 12022.1(f) for committing a felony while on felony probation, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office. Authorities have not released how many deputies fired their weapons or detailed exactly what happened in the moments immediately before shots were fired, per the same CBS Sacramento account.
Prior Record Adds Legal Weight
Llerenas's felony probation status is not incidental to the case. Under Penal Code 245(c), assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm against a peace officer is a straight felony carrying three, four, or five years in state prison and counts as a violent strike under California's Three Strikes law, according to Wilfert Law P.C. Separately, felony reckless evading under Vehicle Code 2800.2(a) carries up to three years in prison for fleeing a pursuing patrol vehicle with lights and siren activated while driving with willful or wanton disregard for safety, according to the Shouse Law Group.
Because Llerenas was already on felony probation, Penal Code 12022.1 imposes an automatic, mandatory two-year prison sentence enhancement on top of any conviction, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. Local Crime News reports that Llerenas was previously arrested in Solano County in February 2024 on suspicion of felony vehicle evasion and DUI, and was arrested again in San Joaquin County in July 2026 on suspicion of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant — the arrest that appears to have placed him on the felony probation now driving the sentencing enhancement.
Multi-Agency Protocol Now in Effect
Because deputies used deadly force, San Joaquin County's Multi-Agency Critical Incident Protocol has been activated, triggering a joint investigation by the Sheriff's Office, Stockton Police Department, the District Attorney's Office, and the California Department of Justice. Under the county's standing critical incident procedures, the District Attorney and the state Department of Justice independently review every officer-involved shooting to determine legal justification and eventually issue public written reports, a process Hoodline detailed in its coverage of the Lodi McDonald's shooting last month.
Thursday's shooting is at least the second involving San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputies in Stockton this summer. On June 23, deputies opened fire during a disturbance investigation on Wisconsin Avenue, according to ABC10.
Neighborhood Cleared, Ramp Reopened
After Llerenas was taken into custody near Melbourne Avenue and Acacia Street, the Sheriff's Office issued a statement confirming he was in custody and that no ongoing safety threat remained for the surrounding neighborhood, ABC10 reported. Caltrans reported that the March Lane on-ramp to I-5, closed for the investigation, reopened around 10 a.m.
Pursuits like this one increasingly unfold under the watch of automated license plate readers across Stockton, part of a network built out with a $963,000 federal grant the city accepted in November 2024 to deploy 100 Flock Safety cameras at key traffic corridors, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the Manteca kidnapping case earlier this month. Investigators have not said whether that camera network played any role in tracking Thursday's chase.
