West Sacramento Suspect Leads Police On 14-Hour Manhunt
WEST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – It was a manhunt that spanned two counties, involved three stolen vehicles, a shutdown interstate, officers dodging fire, and finally, ended with a fatal standoff.
The incident began just before 6 a.m. Friday morning., when West Sacramento police responded to B&R Head and Block Repair in the 400 block of Harbor Boulevard after receiving several calls of a shooting.
Employees of the machine repair shop arrived to open the business and interrupted a burglary in progress, police said. Shots were fired but no one was hit.
The believed suspect, 38-year-old Jimmy Graves, fled the scene and stole a white pickup truck.
The first carjacking victim, Steve Welch, spoke with CBS13 over the phone and said it was his white Ford F-150 that was stolen and then crashed on the causeway.
"Yes, he ran up to me with his gun and took my truck at gunpoint," said Welch. "All of a sudden the guy runs around the corner and he's got a backpack in one hand and a revolver in the other. And he ran right up to me and said 'Get out, get out!' Truthfully, I couldn't move fast enough. I'm glad he didn't shot me."
Both directions of Interstate 80 were shut down between West Sacramento and Davis for six hours as police searched for Graves, clogging freeways throughout the region.
Then Graves assaulted Woodland Pastor William Gunter on County Road 123 and Old River Road in West Sacramento.
According to his wife Loretta, Gunter reported walking his dog Dusty along the Yolo Causeway, as he often does, when he saw the suspect standing next to a tractor. She says the man told Gunter that he was waiting for someone to open a yellow gate, but when he turned he was hit by an unknown object and knocked out. Leaving him bloodied, Graves stole Gunter's truck, which was found 12 miles away in North Sacramento.
WATCH: RAW: Second Carjacking Victim Bloodied
Friday evening Sacramento Sheriff's Deputy cornered the suspect in an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Ethan Way in the Arden Arcade area. He barricaded himself inside an apartment and started a fire. After refusing to surrender, deputies shot the suspect to allow firefighters to extinguish the rapidly growing fire.
Graves was fatally wounded, ending a 14-hour manhunt.
The damage caused to the building due to the fire has prevented residents from returning to their homes, and will not be able to return until the complex is deemed safe once again.
