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PITTSBURG — Antioch police officer Thomas Smith still has two birdshot pellets lodged in his head, from the May 2016 afternoon when he stared down the barrel of a shotgun and watched a carjacking suspect pull the trigger.

He heard the gunshot, saw the muzzle flash, and felt an impact on the left side of his face. At the time, Smith said under oath at a preliminary hearing last month, he thought the suspect, Mario Serrano, might have shot him with a rifle.

“The impact from the gunshot threw me to the other side of the car,” Smith said under oath. “I laid my head down… as more shots were fired into my vehicle.”

Despite being struck in the head multiple times, Smith was able to shoot back, get out of his car, and seek cover behind another police SUV that arrived at the scene. Serrano surrendered and was interviewed by police that night, who asked him why he pulled the trigger.

murder police officers." width="160" />Mario Serrano was arrested May 4 and charged with attempting to murder police officers. 

“He mentioned that he wouldn’t go down without a fight,” Contra Costa District Attorney inspector Jim Posada testified.

Smith, Posada and other witnesses testified at a July preliminary hearing, where Serrano was ordered to stand trial on charges of attempting to murder police, assault with a firearm, and other felony charges related to a multi-day crime spree. Serrano pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning.

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The hearing transcripts, released last week, give the public its first detailed look at the allegations, which include carjacking, a home burglary, multiple auto thefts, an arson, a police chase that reached speeds of 100 miles per hour, and at least four shootings, all of which occurred within 72 hours at different locations in east and central Contra Costa.

It was a day that officers in the area remember well, said Antioch police Chief Tammany Brooks.

“I’ve been with Antioch PD for 22 years and hearing Officer Smith advise over the police radio that he had been shot in the head is probably one of my scariest memories,” Brooks said. “First and foremost because I was afraid his injuries were going to be life threatening. But then a sense of helplessness also came over me because I wasn’t there to help him.”

Police say it all started with a lovers’ quarrel; after a long argument, Serrano decided his then-girlfriend must be cheating on him, so he sought revenge. First he allegedly destroyed a car they’d bought together, severing the fuel line and setting it ablaze, then he tried to find her at the Antioch McDonalds where she worked. When told she wasn’t around, he smashed the restaurant’s windows with a crowbar, police said.

According to police testimony, Serrano then allegedly traveled to Clayton, where he found an empty home and broke in. He admitted to barricading the doors with furniture and screwing others shut. The next morning, he allegedly took a car, a shotgun, and ammunition from the home. An Antioch officer testified the barricades appeared to be preparation for a gun fight.

From there, he went to his girlfriend’s apartment and fired three gunshots in the air when he couldn’t find her. He returned to McDonalds, asked the drive-thru attendant where his girlfriend was, and then shot out a window when told she wasn’t around. An employee was struck in the face and chest by gunfire and survived, but didn’t testify in the preliminary hearing, according to court records.

Next, Serrano allegedly went to the home of his girlfriend’s family member and shot out the windows of that house when she wasn’t there. Then he realized he had a problem: the gas tank in the car he’d stolen was almost empty. So he traveled to Martinez, found a group of people standing around a BMW, and carjacked them with the shotgun in hand, Posada testified.

From there Serrano headed east, and Smith and Antioch Officer Scott Duggar entered the picture. By this point, authorities all over the county had been alerted of Serrano’s crime spree and Antioch police were instructed to keep an eye on the city’s entry points.

Smith and Duggar, waiting separately along the Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, saw Serrano whiz past, and began to pursue him. After a high-speed chase through city streets, he crashed at East Leland and Loveridge roads in Pittsburg. Smith was the only officer on the scene for a few moments, according to police testimony.

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Duggar testified Serrano shot twice at him and that he returned fire, but missed the suspect. Both officers yelled at Serrano to drop the gun, and eventually he complied. The crime spree ended there, but it wasn’t over for Smith, who testified he still has daily headaches and chronic pain from the pellets that remain in his head.

“I’m extremely proud of the way Officer Smith and Officer Duggar reacted to the violent threat against them. Their actions are the true epitome of courage, heroism and professionalism,” Brooks said. “Because even though Mr. Serrano was intent on killing them and anyone else who got in his way, when he gave up and dropped the shotgun he had just used against them, both officers immediately switched from warriors in combat to guardians who recognized and exercised our core value of preserving the sanctity of life whenever possible.”