Slaying Suspect Leads CHP on 15-Mile Chase : Crime: Eighteen shots are fired at a pursuing officer before the woman sought in a Pacoima killing crashes east of Victorville.

A woman wanted on suspicion of shooting a mechanic to death in Pacoima was arrested after a 15-mile chase in San Bernardino County, during which 18 shots were fired at a pursuing CHP officer before her auto overturned on a desert road.

The officer was not injured and his car was apparently hit by only one bullet during the chase that ended Wednesday night when the suspect’s car overturned on a ranch road off California 18, about 35 miles east of Victorville.

Gigi Fairchild, 27, of the Pacoima area, suffered a serious leg injury in the crash and was being held at San Bernardino County Medical Center on suspicion of attempted murder of the CHP officer, authorities said.

Los Angeles police began looking for Fairchild shortly after 5:40 a.m. Wednesday when they were called to an industrial yard in the 12200 block of Osborne Place in Pacoima where a truck mechanic, David A. Webb, 31, of Mission Hills was found shot to death.

Detective Al Ferrand said Webb was shot numerous times. Other mechanics told investigators that they heard the shots and saw Fairchild drive away in her blue Toyota Tercel, Ferrand said.

Fairchild, the girlfriend of another mechanic at the yard, was acquainted with Webb but the motive for the slaying is unknown, Ferrand said.

Police broadcast a description of Fairchild and her car. About 9:30 p.m., CHP Officer Lee Henderson saw the car speeding east and illegally passing cars on California 18 in the Lucerne Valley about 100 miles northeast of Pacoima.

CHP Officer Lorin Orchard said Henderson did not realize that the driver was wanted in a homicide and attempted to make a traffic stop. “He just thought he would write one more ticket before the end of shift,” Orchard said of Henderson, who could not be reached for comment.

However, the Toyota, which Henderson believed had two or three people in it, increased its speed to 80 m.p.h. to 90 m.p.h. and its driver refused to pull over.

“The officer heard popping sounds that he at first thought was backfiring from the Toyota,” Orchard said. “Then he saw a handgun pointed out the driver’s side window and the muzzle flash. They were shooting at him.”

Henderson dropped about 200 yards behind the fleeing car and called for help while continuing to follow. More shots were fired from the Toyota, its lights were turned off and it turned off the highway and began following a series of desert ranch roads, the CHP said.

Orchard said that as Henderson turned onto one road he saw the Toyota upside down in a cloud of dust. Fairchild was found hiding in tall brush more than 200 yards from the overturned car. A loaded .357-magnum revolver was found near the car. It was only after her arrest that the officers learned she was wanted as a suspect in the Pacoima killing.

The CHP searched the area on foot and from a helicopter for several hours after the chase but found no other suspects.

Ferrand said Los Angeles detectives will seek a murder charge against Fairchild on Monday.