Police: Convicted Baltimore drug dealer admits firing at Anne Arundel cops

Matthew Gonzalez, 22, of Victor Street in Brooklyn, faces up to life in prison on charges he shot Police Officer Lee Joines early Tuesday morning in the same city neighborhood.

Joines was summoned to the 400 block of Audrey Avenue — which is in Anne Arundel County, bordering the city — to investigate suspicious people in a vehicle, according to charging documents.

The caller told police she saw two males exit a black SUV parked on the block after apparently searching through the vehicle.

Joines and another uniformed officer began to interview a group of males sitting on the curb on Audrey Avenue, when Gonzalez got up and ran, charging documents state.

Joines then shot Gonzalez with a Taser gun, causing the suspect to fall to the ground, and a black handgun to fall out of his pocket, police said.

Gonzalez grabbed the handgun and fired at Joines — with a bullet striking the officer’s gun, the documents state.

Joines fired one shot at the suspect, but did not strike him, according to police. Then the officer’s gun jammed because of the bullet, as Gonzalez continued to run and fire several shots at police, officers said.

One of the shots struck Joines in his abdomen area but his body armor apparently saved his life, the documents state.

Gonzalez ran through a yard into an alley, where he encountered two other officers, who arrested him, police said.

In a statement to Baltimore homicide detectives, Gonzalez admitted his involvement in the shooting, charging documents state.

Joines was treated at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

Gonzalez had been convicted of attempted drug distribution and drug possession in 2006 in South Baltimore and sentenced to six months in jail.

He also had been convicted of marijuana possession in 2005 in South Baltimore, and possession of marijuana and a deadly weapon in Bel Air in 2005.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com