Riverside County sheriff’s deputies are still seeking a suspect who opened fire with an assault rifle on a San Jacinto deputy Saturday night, disabling the deputy’s patrol car and sending him to the hospital with minor injuries, sheriff’s officials say.

The deputy has since been released to return to work, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Albert Martinez said Monday, April 13.

The gunman got away despite a search that included a SWAT team going yard-to-yard through the neighborhood where investigators say the gunman crashed the car he was driving, according to sheriff’s spokesmen and neighborhood residents.

The gunfire erupted about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the 1200 block of De Anza Drive.

The deputy had been investigating a 9:15 p.m. report of someone brandishing a gun, Sgt. Robert Duckett said in a written statement.

The person who called police pointed out a vehicle driving by, which also matched the description of a vehicle involved in a carjacking at 12:55 a.m. near Villines Avenue and Avenida Rosa in San Jacinto. Details of that carjacking were not available Monday.

The deputy tried to stop the car, but it didn’t yield, so the officer began a pursuit. Shortly afterward, the deputy took fire.

“The suspect fired multiple rounds from a high-powered assault rifle towards the officer’s patrol car,” Duckett wrote. “Several rounds pierced the patrol vehicle causing it to become immobilized.”

The gunman sped away, but crashed beside the garage of a home about two blocks aways on Lechuga Way, off Savory Lane. He ran away and escaped.

A weapon similar to the one used by the gunman was found in a backyard near the crash site, Duckett wrote.

The weapon was an SKS assault rifle, Sgt. Mike Manning said Sunday.

“We’re very thankful that the deputy wasn’t seriously wounded,” Manning said. “That type of round is devastating.”

Three shots pierced the windshield — including one bullet just below the top of the steering wheel — and at least one more hit the car, damaging the radiator and engine block, Manning said.

A thorough forensic exam was to conducted Monday on the car, but results of that examination were not available.

The deputy was not hit by any bullets, but was taken to a hospital to ensure that he didn’t suffer eye damage from flying glass or debris, Manning said.

On Sunday, the neighborhood was still abuzz from the police activity.

Lechuga Way resident Sandra Franco recalled that her 13-year-old son heard gunfire in the distance about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

When she looked out a window to investigate, deputies were beginning to swarm the area.

And a white compact car had been abandoned up against a fence beside the garage of a home across the street, she said.

“We saw the cops going that way with their guns,” she said. “And around (midnight), they got the SWAT team, and … looked at all the (backyard) patios.”

Directly across the street from the crash site, 66-year-old Joel Camargo was entertaining guests when the commotion started.

“The only thing we saw was police all over,” he said Sunday. “The police were here all night.

“About 2:10 in the morning, they woke us up and wanted to check the backyard to see if anyone was hiding back there.”

But he never heard any shooting, nor saw the man police are seeking, he said.

The excitement was unusual in that neighborhood, area residents said.

“We’ve never had any problems,” Camargo said.