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For Immediate Release |
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| Date | January 2, 2003 | |
| Contact | Lieutenant John Wallace | |
| Phone | (909) 826-5836 | |
| Fax | (909) 826-5699 | |
Riverside, Ca- On December 31, 2002 at 7:17
p.m. officers from the Riverside Police Department responded to the 2700 block
of Aries Street in reference to an assault in progress. The victim of the
assault was contacted and she stated that the suspect was still inside the
residence with two young children. The children were ages 2 and 4 years.
During the preliminary investigation officers were told that on past occasions
the suspect has made statements that “he wanted to be killed by the police”. The
suspect was identified as Michael Wetter 22 years old of Riverside.
Uniformed officers attempted to rescue the children from the residence when
Wetter who was holding a knife to the child’s throat, confronted them. The
officers ordered Wetter to drop the knife several times, but he refused. Wetter
while holding the child, charged towards one of the uniformed holding the knife
in an aggressive and threatening manner. Officer William Rodriguez fired his
duty weapon at Wetter in an attempt to keep him from injuring an officer. A
bullet struck Wetter causing a fatal injury.
Officer William Rodriguez has been a member of the Riverside Police Department
since April of 2002; he was formally a Police Detective with the New York Police
Department for twelve years.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call Detectives
Ron Sanfillipo or Greg Rowe at (909) 320-8000.
