Police Kill Kidnapping Suspect After Montebello Chase
MONTEBELLO (CBS) — Police shot and killed a kidnapping suspect after a high speed chase in Montebello on Monday afternoon.
The chase ended just before 2 p.m. near Greenwood Avenue and Oakwood Street in Montebello when the suspect made a U-turn in the middle of the street before coming to a stop, and exiting his car. In his right hand appeared to be a shiny object that police said was his loaded weapon.
Now police are trying to figure out who exactly fired the first shot, despite numerous videos of the incident.
Brian Villa heard the chase and recorded it on his cell phone camera before hitting the ground.
"You could hear the bullets passing through, just like grazing, hitting stuff," he said. "They just kept shooting and shooting. It was horrific, it was horrible."
Police said six officers fired up to 30 rounds at the suspect after he had opened fire on them.
"The suspect exited his vehicle, produced a handgun, pointed it at the Montebello officers. We believe he fired at least one round. The officers returned fire struck the suspect several times," said Lt. Dave Coleman.
Cops maintain the suspect fired the first shot, but a close analysis of the video seemingly leaves questions unanswered.
Detectives also said the woman took the toddler out before the firing, but CBS2 cameras caught the woman exiting the car with the young child while the suspect was already on the ground.
"He was in contact with other family members and he indicated that he wasn't going to go down, if you will, easily, and it appears that it resulted in a suicide by cop incident here.
The coroner's office has not positively identified the suspect yet, however friends told CBS2 that his name was George Jimenez and that he was 31 years old. They said the young girl was his daughter and he was apparently expecting another child as well.
Jimenez's brother was said to be an LA County sheriff's deputy, however the sheriff's department would not confirm that.
Police kept the crime scene taped up and the body of the suspect in the street for more than nine hours before cleaning up.
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