A suspected shoplifter accused of firing a gun inside an Oceanside Target store has been arrested after a pursuit and carjacking, Oceanside police said Friday.
Dennis Lam was captured in Orange County, as was his alleged accomplice Ana Molina.
At about 6:50 a.m. Friday, California Highway Patrol officers saw a black, 7-series BMW pulled over on State Route 133 near Irvine Boulevard. As the patrol car pulled over, the driver took off, according to Oceanside Police.
The officer pursued, watching the driver and his female passenger crash into an SUV and eventually ditch the BMW. On Santiago Canyon Road, the couple held a man at gunpoint and stole his Ford F-150 truck.
During the carjacking, the victim fell 60 feet down a ravine, fracturing his leg, injuring his head and cutting his arms and legs. The man was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
As Lam and Molina drove off in the truck, sheriff's deputies set up a perimeter around Silverado Canyon Road. They finally apprehended the couple when they tried to flee down a dead end road, Oceanside police said. .
Lam and Molina were booked into jail on charges of evading police, hit and run and carjacking, as well as charges stemming from the Target shooting. That incident occurred at about 1:15 p.m. Thursday at a Target in the Camino Town and Country Shopping Center, 2555 El Camino Real. No one was hurt.
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One of the suspects was confronted by store security on suspicion of shoplifting, according to one witness. At that point, the suspect pulled a gun out of a bag and fired the weapon once into the ground before firing a second shot in the direction of an employee.
Witnesses said everyone in the store got on the ground as soon as the gunfire erupted. The suspects fled the scene, driving away from the store in the black BMW, which was not reported stolen, according to Oceanside officials.
Officers said in a news release Friday that they were still sorting out how Molina was involved in the incident.
