I-5 Standoff With Police Ends When Suspect Shoots Himself

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — A lengthy overnight police pursuit that began in City Heights and ended early Wednesday morning on Interstate 5 near San Onofre State Beach turned into a standoff that shut down the freeway for hours before the domestic violence suspect who had led the chase fatally shot himself inside his SUV.

The events that prompted the cross-county pursuit began about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, when a nude woman flagged down officers on Central Avenue, near Landis Street, and told them her boyfriend had attacked her and tried to strangle her at a nearby home, according to the San Diego Police Department.

An ambulance crew took the victim to a hospital for an evaluation.

By the time officers got to the residence where the alleged assault had occurred, the 28-year-old suspect was gone, SDPD Officer Tony Martinez said.

About two hours later, patrol personnel spotted the man, whose name was not immediately available, driving on Interstate 15, near Interstate 8, Martinez said. When they tried to pull him over, he refused to yield, continuing to the north on the freeway.

Police pursued the white BMW over various freeways until about 3 a.m., when the SUV finally rolled to a stop on I-5 near Cristianitos Road in the far northern reaches of San Diego County, its tires shredded by spike strips that officers had laid out in the suspect's path.

The California Highway Patrol shut down both sides of the freeway as the man hunkered down in his disabled vehicle, refusing to surrender.

The stalemate continued until about 6:15 a.m., when the suspect shot himself in the head, according to Martinez said. Paramedics took the gravely wounded man to a trauma center, where he was pronounced dead, the officer said.

Both sides of freeway at the site of the standoff were open again by 8 a.m., according to the CHP.

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--City News Service