A 39-year-old Richmond man alleged to have shot and injured another person last week on a Vallejo freeway pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in Solano County Superior Court.
The attorney for Mohammad Ahmed Rafiq Ali, appearing for jail arraignment in Department 4 in Fairfield, entered the plea on his client’s behalf. The attorney, Eric M. Safire of San Francisco, also told Judge Marlo S. Nisperos that Ali denied all three counts and allegations. They include attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, and assault with a firearm, all felonies.
Ali, shackled and clad in a green-striped jail jumpsuit, and Safire stood to one side of the courtroom during the 1:30 p.m. proceeding in the Hall of Justice.
Almost immediately, Safire told Nisperos that his client had no prior felony convictions, is the father of five children, is a former union member, and is a respected community member, as evidenced by some 100 Ali supporters in the public gallery who rose from their seats at the defense attorney’s request.
Noting the criminal complaint, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Kern Stewart requested the judge to issue a no-bail hold or, short of that, $750,000 bail.
Nisperos, also noting the criminal allegations and asserting Ali’s potential danger to the community, ruled that Ali would remain in custody in Solano County Jail in Fairfield.
She then assigned the case to Department 8 in the Justice Center and also set a readiness conference and pretrial services report for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 11. The judge also set a preliminary hearing for 10 a.m. Oct. 22, also in Department 8, Judge Wendy Getty’s courtroom.
Court records show that officers assigned to the CHP’s Solano area office in Vallejo were dispatched at about 5:30 a.m. on a report of a shooting that occurred on eastbound Interstate 780 east of Glen Cove Road.
Following the shooting, the driver of the victim vehicle pulled to the right shoulder of the freeway and called 911, according to information posted Monday on a CHP-Solano social media page.
Before officers arrived on scene, the victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds and was later released, according to information provided by an official in the CHP’s Golden Gate Division in Vallejo.
Detectives assigned to the division responded to the scene and assumed the lead role in the investigation. During their investigation, detectives were given a description of the suspect vehicle, which was then located using a Flock Safety camera in the area. With that information, detectives identified Ali as the primary suspect in the shooting.
At approximately 5 p.m., detectives, with the help of the division’s Warrant Service Team, found Ali at his home in Richmond, in the 600 block of South 37th Street, and took him into custody without incident.
Ali was booked into Solano County Jail later that night on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and firing a weapon at an occupied vehicle.
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