A Marin County sheriff's detective testified this morning that San Rafael teenager Max Wade was armed when he was arrested in April for the attempted shooting murders of two other teens in Homestead Valley and the theft of celebrity chef Guy Fieri's bright-yellow Lamborghini.
Detective Ryan Petersen said detectives were conducting surveillance on the storage locker in Richmond where Wade had allegedly been keeping the Lamborghini and were waiting for him when he exited the facility around 7 p.m. on April 28.
Wade was waiting for a ride on Parr Boulevard when detectives approached him in their patrol car.
When he saw the detectives, Wade fled, grabbing his waistband as he backed up and then ran, Petersen testified.
Petersen said he and another detective blocked Wade's path in their car. Wade fell to the ground when a detective kicked him in the ribs, and was handcuffed after a struggle.
"He was flailing his arms back and forth. He was actively fighting us," Petersen said.
Petersen said he struck Wade twice in the pelvis with a closed fist.
Detectives recovered a loaded Glock handgun with a magazine containing at least one bullet, and found three more magazines in Wade's pockets, Petersen said.
The testimony this morning was part of a preliminary hearing that will allow a judge to determine whether there is enough evidence to hold Wade for trial.
Wade, 18, is charged with the attempted murder of Landon Wahlstrom, 19, and Eva Dedier, 18, as they sat in Wahlstrom's Dodge truck on Evergreen and Ethel avenues in unincorporated Mill Valley on April 13.
On Tuesday, Wahlstrom and Dedier testified that a motorcyclist dressed in black pulled up alongside the truck, looked briefly inside then fired five or six shots into the driver's-side window.
Neither victim was struck by bullets, but both were cut by the flying glass.
The prosecution's theory is that Wade shot at the couple because Dedier had spurned his advances.
Petersen also testified that Andrew Lettieri, an 18-year-old friend of Wade at Redwood High School, said Wade told him two months before the shootings that Wahlstrom had his girlfriend and that he intended to fight him, or had already fought him.
Lettieri wasn't sure whether the fight had already taken place, Petersen testified.
Wade is suspected of stealing the Lamborghini from a San Francisco auto dealership on Van Ness Avenue on March 8, 2011.
Petersen testified that Wade told Lettieri he stole the Lamborghini and that Lettieri said other Redwood High School students were also aware of that.
Detectives investigating the shooting identified Wade as a suspect and worked with Dedier to set up a meeting with him at the Safeway store in Strawberry, Petersen testified. On the day of his arrest, detectives were watching as he arrived at the Safeway in the Lamborghini, then drove back across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to the storage facility, where he was taken into custody.
In the weeks after Wade's arrest, the case took on an even more sensational nature when a pair of Marin rappers released a song and music video as a tribute to Wade. And in the early morning hours of August 10, the day he turned 18 and was set to be transferred out of Juvenile Hall, Wade apparently was the target of an attempted break-in to free him.
He was transferred to Marin County Jail later that day and remains in custody on $2 million bail. Wade plead not guilty to the charges in June. The preliminary hearing is expected to last three days.
--Bay City News Service
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