A robbery suspect led police on a chase, fired at officers and then took his own life, according to San Diego police officers.
The chase started at about 12.15 p.m. Thursday after the suspect allegedly robbed a Pacific Beach Radio Shack on Garnet Avenue. He walked into the store and took several hundred dollars worth of cell phones and chargers, police said. A store attendant said he brandished a weapon.
Radio Shack alerted police of the robbery and a motorcycle officer responded. Witnesses identified the suspect as driving a red Mazda and the officer pursued the suspect down Ingraham St.
The male suspect fired at the pursuing police officer several times and the officer returned fire, police said. It's unknown how many shots were fired.
The suspect fled on foot in the 4000 block of Hancock Street near Phil's BBQ.
“We were eating lunch and the bus boy said ‘hey, the guy that just ran by has a gun,’ and then the next thing we knew there was a helicopter and motorcycle police and all the police were here,” witness Mike LaBahn said. “I was thinking maybe we should go back inside so we don’t get shot.”
According to police, he shot himself during the foot chase.
“We heard a shot and we couldn’t believe what we were hearing and we looked up and we saw the motorcycle police running in front of the building and he just started pointing,” said Fred, another witness. “It was only one shot. That was it. One shot.”
The suspect was seen lying on a sidewalk, surrounded by a pool of blood.
“It was pretty freaky. We were like, what is going on? We were hiding under the table because we didn’t know what the heck was going on,” said witness Heidi.
A female suspect also fled on foot, but was arrested and taken into custody at Chick-fil-A near the Sports Arena. One witness says he didn't see the female suspect until multiple police cars entered the parking lot and arrested her.
Police took the female suspect into a restroom in Chick-fil-A. When officers brought her back outside they had put bags over her arms so they could test for gun residue to see if she had fired at officers during the chase, police said.
