Juan Diego Valencia: Man Shot Woman Before Car Chase, SWAT Standoff -- Cops
It was like a scene out of a Quintin Tarantino movie.
LASD
Cop pulls behind a driver, suspect shoots a woman (the officer actually sees the muzzle flash) in the car, guy allegedly dumps the victim, then he speeds off with the 5-0 in pursuit. This really happened, sheriff's officials allege.
This is how they say it went down in Lynwood and Hawthorne last night:
At about 11:15 p.m. Thursday a deputy attempted to pull over a driver in a green Mercury Cougar in the 4100 block of Alma Avenue in Lynwood, sheriff's officials said in a statement.
The suspect pulled to the curb but then the deputy witnessed said muzzle flash before the man sped off "at a high rate of speed," they said.
The chase was on, cops said, and at Josephine Street and Harris Avenue in Lynwood a shocking thing happened:
... The suspect pushed a woman out of the car ...
She was pronounced dead on the spot.
The pursuit, continued, cops said, until the man stopped in the 14000 block of Chadron Avenue in Hawthorne, got out, ran to an apartment, and barricaded himself, according to the statement.
The situation turned into a SWAT standoff, but the dude finally surrendered at 1:50 a.m. this morning, sheriff's officials said.
The suspect was ID'd by the department as Juan Diego Valencia, 30.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder and jailed in lieu of $1 million. The woman -- cops would only say "the victim and suspect knew each other" -- has not bee identified.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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