San Rafael Man Arrested After Encampment Shooting

SAN RAFAEL, CA — A 33-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a shooting at an encampment in San Rafael last weekend, police said Friday.

Eli Harald, a San Rafael resident, is accused of the shooting reported shortly before 4:30 a.m. last Saturday in a parking lot near the Falkirk Cultural Center on Mission Avenue, according to San Rafael police.

Officers responded and learned a man had tried to get into a tent at the encampment and a female victim in the tent began blowing a whistle to try to stop him from coming in. Someone who had been sleeping in their vehicle saw the disturbance, turned on the car's headlights and drove toward the suspect to try to stop the attack, police said.

The suspect, later identified as Harald, then backed away from the tent and fired a single gunshot, though it was unclear if he targeted anyone in the shooting, which did not injure anyone, according to police.

The suspect and someone else then fled in a gray pickup truck, though witnesses provided the license plate for the truck. On Thursday night, an officer spotted the vehicle at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Second Street, and Harald was arrested after police pulled over the vehicle, police said.

During a search of the truck, police found a handgun that appeared to match the caliber of a bullet casing found at the scene of the weekend shooting.

Harald was booked into county jail on suspicion of several offenses, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded firearm in public, and gross negligence of discharging a firearm in public, according to police.

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