Hacienda Heights Rifle-Wielding Robbery Suspect Wounded By Deputies After Wild Pursuit, Multiple Shootouts
CITY OF INDUSTRY (CBSLA) – A 23-year-old man armed with an AR-15 assault rifle went on a criminal rampage early Friday morning -- trying to steal drugs from a CVS store in La Puenta and robbing a Hacienda Heights gas station -- before being wounded by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies in the City of Industry following a wild pursuit and multiple shootouts, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as Rogelio Ochoa of Santa Fe Springs, was shot multiple times and was hospitalized in unknown condition, a sheriff's spokesperson told CBSLA. No deputies were injured.
Ochoa is also a suspect in a shooting which occurred at Hacienda Heights gun store Thursday night, the sheriff's spokesperson said.
The incident began a little before 1 a.m. when the suspect entered a CVS Pharmacy store at 861 North Hacienda Blvd. armed with a rifle and tried to steal prescription drugs. He fled empty-handed.
Just five minutes later, at 1:08 a.m., deputies spotted him at a nearby Shell gas station at Gail Avenue and Hacienda Boulevard after he had robbed it, the sheriff's department reports. During the robbery, he seized the clerk's ID and threatened him.
As deputies were pulling up to the gas station, they witnessed Ochoa coming out armed with his assault rifle and holding a bag of cash. He allegedly yelled, "get some," before raising his rifle at them, the sheriff's department said. After deputies opened fire, he then jumped back into his car and sped away, prompting a chase.
"The suspect was coming out of the Shell station, he had a bag of cash in one hand, and the same rifle in the other," LASD Lt. Barry Hall said. "He made a statement, 'get some,' and raised the rifle towards the deputies."
Photos from the scene showed about a dozen shell casings littering the parking lot of the gas station.
An approximately four-mile pursuit ensued onto the westbound lanes of the 60 Freeway, the sheriff's department said. It ended when the suspect lost control and crashed the car after taking the Crossroads Parkway exit in the City of Industry.
A second shootout occurred at a Chevron gas station after Ochoa exited his car. He was struck several times, the sheriff's department reports. News cameras captured him being handcuffed on the ground and then loaded into an ambulance.
Ochoa is also suspected in a shooting which occurred at a nearby Hacienda Heights gun store Thursday at 10 p.m.
Shell casings found at the scene of the gun store shooting match Ochoa's rifle, the sheriff's official said.
A second rifle and a handgun were also found in his crashed car.
The L.A. County Office of the Inspector General and the LASD Homicide and Internal Affairs bureaus are investigating, as is protocol with any deputy-involved shooting.