20+ Mile Police Chase Ends With Burglary Suspect Shot
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LEWISVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) - A restaurant burglary suspect leads on a police chase, and ends with shots fired and the suspect being shot by officers.
Early Wednesday police were still working to gather evidence at a Northeast Dallas hotel. But the incident started after midnight in Lewisville, after officers say the suspect broke into the Regal Buffet Chinese restaurant, located just off Interstate-35E.
According to Lewisville police, witnesses say a man pull in front of the business in a red pickup truck, get out, break a glass door and go inside the restaurant.
The suspect returned to the truck and took off from the scene in a vehicle, with Lewisville and Farmers Branch police right behind. Officers from those departments chased the man down Interstate-35E and onto Interstate-635 the LBJ Freeway -- nearly 30 miles.
Eventually the man pulled into the Regency Hotel, just off the highway near Jupiter Road, and officers from the Dallas Police department joined the effort.
Police say it was then that the suspect ran inside the hotel and waited for officers to follow him. The man reportedly fired at least one shot at Lewisville and Farmers Branch police officers who were inside the building and then fired another shot at Dallas police officers in the parking lot.
At least one Dallas officer fired back, hitting the suspect in the leg. The man, who police say is 48-years-old, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Talking about the suspect's actions Dallas police Major Jimmy Vaughan said it appeared the man was trying to ambush officers. "If you round corners and certain areas, from apartment complexes to buildings, and you're waiting for officers to show up and then you take a shot at them."
The Regency Hotel is an extended stay hotel and it is possible the man fled to the location because he lives there.
There are a lot of long-term residents at the hotel. One of those residents, Brittney Hill, said the sound of gunfire woke people out of their beds. "I heard two gunshots. It was like one and then another one following afterwards," she said before commenting on how dangerous the suspect's actions were, "He's nuts. He could have shot anybody. He could have killed somebody."
None of the police officers involved in the incident were injured.
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