Police opened fire on an armed carjacking suspect after chasing him through the streets of Hollywood and the Mid-Wilshire area. Contrary to mainstream media reports, the pursuit did not end in Downtown LA but in Koreatown LA at the Shell gas station on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Vermont.
The pursuit began on the Ventura (101) freeway and the driver exited at Hollywood Boulevard, where he momentarily pulled to a stop in the middle of the street at 7:10 p.m. The driver then continued westbound to the busy intersection of Hollywood and Highland, where he turned south onto Highland Avenue.
The suspect kept driving down Highland to the residential area of Hancock Park and then eastbound on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown.
Emergency dispatchers reported that the man driving the vehicle was carrying a blue steel handgun.
The suspect eventually pulled into a Shell gas station, alongside a man pumping gas, at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.
Officers shot several rounds into the suspect’s car, as the civilian lay crouched just feet away. The civilian escaped the situation uninjured.
Dispatchers said the suspect, a 40-year-old man, had suffered several gunshot wounds and have called for an ambulance.
UPDATE: As of 10:00 PM, the LA Times is quoting unnamed sources that the man allegedly stole a car from a woman in San Bernardino shortly before 3:30 p.m. He then drove to North Valley Boulevard and Eastern Avenue in El Sereno, where he dumped the vehicle and stole the Saturn from a 65-year-old man.
The police pursuit ended by 7:39 PM.
Sources: Koreatown on Twitter and CBS Local
