New surveillance video shows armed carjacking and robbery before wild police pursuit

Amy Powell Image
Friday, March 10, 2023
New surveillance video shows carjacking before wild armed pursuit
New surveillance video shows a carjacking and gas station robbery with an assault rifle before the wild police pursuit last Friday.

CORONA, Calif. (KABC) -- Exclusive images obtained by ABC7 show the suspect in last Friday's wild pursuit robbing a gas station and then carjacking a black truck with an assault weapon as he initially evaded capture from law enforcement.

Surveillance video shows the suspect, Benjamin Gonzalez, pulling into the Corona gas station driving a Mercedes and circling around the gas pumps to get a good look at the location.

Gonzalez then gets out of the Mercedes and enters the convenience store holding an assault rifle.

Moments later, he walks up to the clerk holding what appears to be a pink slushie and asks for some cigarettes before taking off without paying.

The suspect then walks over to a black truck parked at a gas pump, where he meets the truck's owner, Josh Ross.

"Guy comes up, he's got a big automatic rifle," said Ross. "He stopped a little closer to me and said, 'Brotha, I need that truck.'"

The suspect then fired a round, causing Ross to run towards the incoming police officers who were pursuing the suspect in connection with a hit and run in Chino.

Gonzalez got in the truck and left.

"I'm thinking like, 'Dude, the cops are right there. They don't know it's him.' I come sprinting back to tell them 'He's in the black truck!'" said Ross.

The shocking carjacking got even crazier after Ross's girlfriend tried calling him, only to have the gunman answer the call.

"So, my first time though his I'm not gonna hang up I'm gonna try to keep,him on the phone for as long as I can until I know he's made contact with police," said Ananda Mallory, Ross's girlfriend.

The suspect would go on to attempt to flee from police at triple-digit speeds on the 91 Freeway, at one point firing at police, before being taken into custody after crashing into a light pole in Harbor City.