OREGON/SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah, Feb. 25, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Two men suspected of committing crimes in Utah and Wyoming were arrested Saturday in Oregon after they allegedly attempted a carjacking there.
The suspects have been identified as Jose Lopez-Jovel, age 31, from El Salvador, and Matthew Anthony Fanelli, 30, of New Mexico.
The two were wanted by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the robbery of the Kimball Junction Wells Fargo Bank in Park City on Friday morning, and a robbery earlier Friday morning in Cheyenne, Wyo. The SCSO described the men as “armed and dangerous.”
Oregon State Police said in a news release that officers responded at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday to a Red Robin Restaurant in Roseburg, Ore., on a report of an attempted carjacking.
Unable to steal the vehicle, one of the suspects fled in his original vehicle.
Lopez-Jovel, the suspect who was left behind, was taken into custody by officers from the Roseburg Police Department and was booked into the Douglas County Jail on warrants as a fugitive from Utah.
Police then located the suspect vehicle, which fled south on Interstate 5, and as officers pursued, the suspect, Fanelli, shot a firearm several times, the news release states.
Bullets struck a commercial vehicle, an occupied child seat inside a passenger car, and an Oregon State Police patrol car, disabling it.
Officers lost sight of the car in Josephine County (Ore.), where police say Fanelli attempted to carjack a man and woman.
“The male and female couple were arriving home when the suspect attempted to carjack them,” the news release says. “The suspect shot the male and assaulted the female, but was unable to steal their car. The male victim was critically injured and his identity and status will be released at a later date.”
When police again found the suspect vehicle, the driver tried to flee, but the vehicle became disabled.
Officers took Fanelli into custody and booked him into the Josephine County Jail on multiple charges.
“OSP and partner Oregon law enforcement agencies soon discovered these two suspects were associated with a multi-state crime spree of violent criminal activity,” the news release says.
Oregon officials are working with out-of-state and federal agencies as investigations into these incidents continue.
They are also asking citizens along the route of the vehicle chase and the associated crime scenes to remain “vigilant of their surrounding area, hitchhikers, and securing of their property,” because it is believed that other “persons of interest” may have been involved in the crimes.
Anyone with any more information is asked to call Oregon State Police Dispatch at 1-800-442-2068 and leave a request for contact from detectives working the case.
