Carjacking suspect shoots two people and stabs another before shooting himself, police say

A carjacking suspect led police on a wild chase Friday that ended when he crashed in a Long Beach neighborhood, burst into a nearby home and shot two people and stabbed another before turning his handgun on himself, authorities said.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, was in critical condition after shooting himself in the head inside a home on the 3300 block of Daisy Avenue, said LAPD Lt. John Jenal, a department spokesman.

The two gunshot victims -- who are brothers -- were in stable condition at a local hospital, as was their father, who was stabbed by the intruder, Jenal said. A third brother managed to escape from the home through a bathroom window, he said.

The incident began at about 9:40 a.m. when an off-duty LAPD officer noticed a gray Volkswagen Passat being driven recklessly on the 105 Freeway near Crenshaw Boulevard and called the CHP. A police dispatcher told the officer that the car had been wanted in connection with a suspected car theft and robbery, Jenal said.

The officer followed the Passat when it left the freeway and for a short distance on surface streets before patrol cars from the LAPD’s Harbor Division caught up and a chase began. The Passat stopped around 223rd Street and Normandie Avenue, and a passenger jumped out and carjacked a nearby Dodge Durango, firing four times at the driver, Jenal said. The rounds missed, Jenal said. The gunman yanked the driver out of the Durango, and a passenger in the vehicle got out before the gunman drove off.

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The violent carjacking prompted the pursuing officers to follow the Durango rather than the Passat, which was last seen driving the wrong way down the 110 Freeway and has not been found, Jenal said.

“Once he fired rounds at those victims, that became the priority for those officers and they had to make a decision, he said.

Jenal said authorities were unsure how many people were inside the Passat, which had tinted windows.

Police chased the Durango into Long Beach, where it crashed on Wardlow Road near Maine Avenue. The gunman fled on foot to Daisy Avenue and escaped into the home, where he attacked the people inside, Jenal said.

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Officers from the LAPD’s Metro Division were nearby and entered the home but the gunman had by then tried to commit suicide, Jenal said.

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