May 28, 2008, 6:18 PM PDT

CARSON -- A man was in custody today on $2.25 million bail for allegedly firing on and striking a sheriff's helicopter above Carson on May 21, authorities said.

Martin Gudino, 23, was arrested Thursday, the day after the shooting, and was booked on suspicion of attempted murder on a peace officer, Steve Whitmore of the sheriff's department said.

The pilot landed safely at the sheriff's Carson station, and no one was hurt, Whitmore said.

Gudino is scheduled to be in Compton Municipal Court on June 10, according to the sheriff's department reported.

Whitmore said three teenage boys were also arrested as "accessories" and would also face charges.

"We definitely believe that the person who was responsible (was) trying to kill our deputies," Deputy Oscar Butao, also of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau, said earlier.

The helicopter was en route to a reported robbery in the 800 block of West Torrance Boulevard about 11 p.m. that Wednesday when bullets struck it in the belly and tail, the sheriff's department reported.

Deputies searched for the source of the gunfire and focused on a neighborhood near Berendo Avenue and Milton Street.

About 5 a.m. Thursday, helmeted SWAT deputies in fatigues surrounded a residence and used a vehicle-mounted battering ram to crash into the garage of the home, where several people were detained, including Gudino.

The residence was known as a gang hangout, deputies said.