Bay Area stop of 'nervous and fidgety' driver leads to arrest of gunfire suspect

By San Francisco Chronicle

Bay Area stop of 'nervous and fidgety' driver leads to arrest of gunfire suspect

By Warren Pederson, San Francisco Chronicle The Tribune Content Agency

A stop of a driver on suspicion of DUI led to an arrest in earlier gunfire, police say.

Vacaville police said they stopped a vehicle moving erratically shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, suspecting the driver was impaired.

The driver, identified as 46-year-old Matthew Fraticelli, "appeared nervous and fidgety, and the officer had to repeatedly remind him to keep his hands in view," according to the Vacaville Police Department. A records check revealed that Fraticelli, a Vacaville resident, had a felony warrant from the U.S. Marshals Service for a firearms offense, police said.

Another officer, approaching from the passenger side, spotted a partially concealed rifle in the backseat area, police said.

After Fraticelli was detained, officers learned that his car matched the description of a vehicle involved in earlier gunfire in neighboring Fairfield, Vacaville police said. The vehicle's plates matched those involved in the earlier gunfire, Fairfield police said.

Fairfield investigators earlier had located about 15 spent casings along the 1900 block of Blossom Avenue and a vehicle that had been struck several times by gunfire, police said. Fairfield police did not respond to an inquiry on whether anyone was injured in the gunfire.

Fraticelli was arrested in the U.S. Marshals warrant and turned over to Fairfield police, who also arrested him in the earlier gunfire, police said.

Reach Warren Pederson: [email protected]

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