Dec. 23, 2022 An infant held hostage in a daylong standoff in Lancaster was uninjured after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies opened fire on an armed man following a high-speed chase.
By Gregory Yee Source Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A daylong standoff in Lancaster came to an end Wednesday night when a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot the suspect, according to authorities.
The shooting occurred at 9:05 p.m. in the 2500 block of East Avenue I, according to the Sheriff’s Department’s Information Bureau. A baby was inside the residence with the suspect and was uninjured when rescued, said Deputy Miesha McClendon, a Sheriff’s Department spokesperson.
The suspect placed a gun to the child’s head while deputy personnel attempted to communicate with him, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities said one deputy opened fire and hit the suspect. Medical aid was rendered, but the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The standoff began with a California Highway Patrol chase about 20 hours earlier, McClendon said.
According to KABC-TV Channel 7, CHP officers saw a white Kia SUV that was reportedly going as fast as 132 mph on the 14 Freeway near Via Princessa at 11:44 p.m. Tuesday.
At some point during the chase, the suspect called the Sheriff’s Department and said that he was armed and had a baby in the vehicle with him, the news station reported.
A CHP spokesperson told KABC-TV that the suspect threatened to shoot at officers unless they disengaged, and later opened fire near 17th Street E and Avenue Q, but no officers were hit.
Eventually, the suspect drove to his home in the Lido Estates Mobile Home community in Lancaster and locked himself inside the residence, the news station reported. Authorities said that the man held a gun to the baby’s head while exiting his car.
A relative of the suspect told reporters at the scene that the suspect is the infant’s father, according to KABC-TV.
McClendon was not able to confirm the relationship between the suspect and infant to The Times.