Man Shoots Self After Police Chase Following Fremont Homicide
SALINAS (CBS/BCN) - A person of interest in a Fremont homicide from Tuesday was arrested after shooting himself in Salinas early Thursday morning following a high-speed chase of a stolen vehicle, authorities said.
Bryan Le, 45, was arrested after an incident that began shortly after 12:30 a.m. when Monterey County sheriff's deputies spotted the vehicle on southbound U.S. Highway 101 at Ralph Lane, just north of Salinas, sheriff's officials said.
A records check of the vehicle's license plate indicated it was a stolen vehicle involved in a Fremont homicide, according to the sheriff's office.
The body of 58-year-old Michael Roberts had been found by an acquaintance at about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 4700 block of Central Avenue in Fremont, police Detective Bill Veteran said.
The coroner's office said Wednesday that the death was most likely a homicide, Veteran said.
The man's name and cause of death are not being released as of Thursday morning, he said.
The man's vehicle was also reported missing from the home, and Le was identified as a "person of interest" in the case, Veteran said.
The missing vehicle was entered into a statewide database and was spotted by the sheriff's deputies early Thursday morning.
The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Le, refused to yield to a traffic stop and a pursuit ensued, sheriff's officials said.
A spike strip was deployed by the California Highway Patrol on southbound Highway 101 north of the Main Street exit in Salinas, and Le stopped his vehicle shortly afterward.
However, he refused to exit the vehicle for several minutes, and allegedly shot a round from a handgun through the roof of the vehicle, and fired a second round into his chest, according to the sheriff's office.
A Salinas police K-9 unit approached Le because he would not surrender the handgun. Le suffered minor injuries from struggling with the dog, but was eventually taken into custody, sheriff's officials said.
He was taken to nearby Natividad Medical Center and later flown by medical helicopter to a Bay Area hospital for further treatment of his injuries, according to the sheriff's office.
Le is expected to survive his injuries and is currently being held on a no-bail warrant from an unrelated incident, Veteran said.
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