Suspect fatally shot by police after stealing cruiser, leading cops on chase

A man who took off in a West Covina police car was killed in an officer-involved shooting that resulted after a police SUV crashed into the stolen vehicle in Glendale to end a high-speed pursuit, authorities said.

Sheriff's homicide detectives went to the 100 block of South Glendale Avenue about 10:30 p.m. Sunday to help West Covina police investigate the officer-involved shooting that happened at the end of the 60-mile pursuit, said
Deputy Mike Barraza of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.

Authorities withheld the name of the fatally wounded man, who was in his 30s, pending notification of his relatives, the coroner's office reported. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

No officers were injured, Barraza said.

In a drama broadcast by television helicopters, officers pursued the stolen cruiser with its lights flashing at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour until a police SUV crashed into its driver's side door to make it stop in
a Glendale parking lot.

The fatal shooting involved officers from the West Covina Police Department, sheriff's Sgt. William Cotter said.

According to the preliminary investigation, the man had called Glendale police about 90 minutes earlier to request some sort of assistance in the city of West Covina, and West Covina officers went there to assist him, Cotter said.

During the conversation between police and the man, he requested a ride from police to another location within the city, and he was allowed to ride in the back of the patrol car while he was driven to that location, Cotter said.

When the patrol car got there, he somehow made his way into the front seat of the patrol car, and drove off in it, Cotter said. The circumstances of how that happened were under investigation.

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