By Amanda Baumfield
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
COVINA, Calif. — A high-speed pursuit of a suspected stolen car turned deadly Tuesday morning when officers opened fire on the driver, killing him.
An unidentified man, who was driving a stolen red pickup truck when he was shot, was killed at 2a.m. by sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers who opened fire in an alley in the 300 block of South 1st Avenue.
The suspect attempted to hijack the pickup after abandoning an apparently stolen sedan nearby, officials said.
Detectives from the sheriff’s homicide bureau and investigators from the District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit spent most of Tuesday sorting out details of the pursuit and subsequent shooting. A 24-year-old woman was taken into custody at the scene. She has not been booked but is being interrogated, officials said.
As for the dead man, “We don’t know anything about him or why he was trying to get away,” said sheriff’s homicide Lt. David Coleman. “He wanted to get away real bad.”
Names of officers or deputies involved were not released Tuesday.
The pursuit began when CHP officers tried pulling over the suspects, who were in a stolen white Honda Accord near Grand Avenue and the 60 Freeway, Coleman said. Sheriff’s deputies were then called to assist with the pursuit.
The suspects swerved through side streets at high speeds leading officers into a long narrow alley next to The Lexington Apartments, 320 South 1st Avenue, officials said.
Ditching the Accord in the alley, the man and the woman then got into a pickup truck that police believe was stolen earlier. With the man driving, the couple began heading east and struck the side of a CHP car. The truck kept going and hit a sheriff’s patrol car head on, according to Coleman.
Then the truck backed into the same CHP car, hitting it again. From there, the suspect slammed the pickup into a parked car that officers were using as a shield, Coleman said. That’s when officers began shooting.
“Fearing for their safety, the officers opened fire,” said Coleman. “Two sheriff officers and one CHP officer opened fire only on the male.”
Coleman said the truck wheels were spinning so fast as the suspects were trying to escape that the alley was filled with smoke.
It is unknown if either suspect had a weapon, according Coleman. The three officers shot approximately 15 rounds with three different guns, he added.
This event marked the third such shooting over the past three days in Los Angeles County. On Sunday morning, officers in Inglewood opened fire on a car they believed was involved in a shooting. Michael Byoune, 19, was killed, driver Larry White, 19, was injured. The CHP shot and killed a DUI suspect in Westlake early Tuesday morning, officials said.
The scene in Covina Tuesday was filled with CHP and sheriff officers, homicide detectives and crime scene investigators. Residents could see the entire crime scene from a Lexington balcony.
Yellow, numbered evidence markers were scattered throughout the alley indicating shell casings, a white sneaker, and a navy blue bandana among other things. Shell casings were found on the roof as well as outside a neighbors door.
The suspect’s body lay uncovered on the pavement as investigators surveyed the scene and took notes over the corpse.
Residents in the quiet suburban neighborhood exchanged tales with one another about what unfolded the night before.
“I heard the screeching of tires and heard cars slamming into each other,” said Kalani Schreiner. “I heard helicopters and gunfire. I ran outside and officers told me to get back in the house.”
Schreiner, a soldier who just returned from Iraq, at first thought he was having a war flashback. He recalls hearing at least 15 rounds.
Many neighbors — who could not leave because their garages were in the middle of the crime scene — were shocked to discover there was a shooting 25 feet away from where they live.
“I was scared to pieces,” said resident Catherine Stevenson. “We have never had anything like that happen here.”
Copyright 2008 The San Gabriel Valley Tribune