A man died Friday morning after a search that began in the Midwest for an attempted murder suspect ended in a standoff with police in San Diego.
Missouri police traced 37-year-old Alan Duane Lovelace Jr.'s cellphone to Pacific Beach after they believed he shot his girlfriend in the head and fled the state in her car.
Lovelace was wanted for questioning in the shooting of his estranged girlfriend 33-year old Amy Wieland. She suffered a gunshot wound to her head, but is now listed in stable condition.
San Diego police spotted a car matching the description of the stolen vehicle, but when police tried to pull the car over Lovelace led them on a dangerous chase.
Lovelace ended up trapping himself at the beach on San Luis Rey Place.
After a 45 minute standoff, police discovered Lovelace dead inside his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
"Our officers used great restraint,” said Lt. David Rohowits. “We believe this individual was the armed and dangerous individual he was described as having a gun and should be treated with extreme caution."
Police will perform a ballistics test to see if this gun matches the gun to the original crime.
Wieland was shot in the parking lot of her workplace, OOIDA, a trucking company in Grain Valley, MO. Witnesses say the two had been arguing.
A neighbor of Lovelace told a local TV station that she is in disbelief. She described Lovelace as good man, who recently mowed the lawns of neighbors.
The neighbor said Wieland had moved out of Lovelace’s home about 6-months ago. She left with the couple’s daughter.
Court records in Missouri show Lovelace was recently ordered to pay child support, according to NBC affiliate station KSHB.
Investigators in Missouri had considered Lovelace armed and dangerous after Tuesday’s shooting. He was reported to be driving Wieland’s 2002 silver Chevrolet minivan. A silver minivan was the subject of the San Diego police department’s pursuit Friday morning.
