Pursuit with shooting suspect ends as car veers off 10 Freeway and crashes in San Gabriel Valley
Los Angeles Police Department officers were in pursuit of shooting suspects in the East LA area on Tuesday night when the suspects' vehicle suddenly veered off the freeway and crashed in the San Gabriel Valley.
LAPD officers told CBS News Los Angeles that the suspects were wanted for a shooting that happened at around 10 p.m. near Blanchard Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. They say that the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the neck.
A department helicopter was able to spot the vehicle as it fled from the spot of the shooting and was able to relay the information to ground units, who initiated the chase. Police said that the pursuit continued along City Terrace surface streets for a while as the suspect drove at slow speeds. Despite the slow speeds, the suspect continued to drive through intersections and red lights.
Just before 11 p.m., the suspect suddenly began to pick up speed as they got onto the westbound I-10 Freeway. They circled around nearly five minutes later, again ending up in City Terrace. Eventually, the suspect made their way to downtown Los Angeles.
Again, they got back onto the I-10 Freeway after driving around for several minutes. As they continued to flee, the driver suddenly drove off the road and across an open field before coming to a stop on the sidewalk near W. Ramona Boulevard and the Ramona Road exit in the San Gabriel Valley.
Two people were seen exiting the car, a white Honda Pilot, and running up a hillside in the area as the LAPD helicopter shone a spotlight from overhead. One suspect, who was behind the wheel when the crash happened, slowly walked away from the crash instead of running.
He attempted to wave down a white van that was passing by, but California Highway Patrol officers arrived at the scene and took him into custody.
A second suspect was taken into custody at the top of the hill in a parking lot. The third suspect was taken into custody a short time after, CHP officers said.
None of the suspects have yet been identified.