A high speed pursuit in Bellflower (CA) on city streets and then into a dead-end resulted in gunfire and two suspects shot by police as the suspect attempted to drive through a three-car police blockade, with the suspect’s car coming very close to one of the officers before shots erupted.

A wild police chase involving a possible car thief ended with apparent gunfire in Bellflower. One suspect was killed and another was taken into custody.

The chase began in Long Beach, where officers received a LoJack hit on a reportedly stolen vehicle around 6 a.m.

When officers tried to pull the car over, the suspect hit the gas, and a pursuit ensued.

The driver, who was traveling in a green 2000 Honda Accord, ignored traffic rules, drove at speeds of up to 90 mph, went into oncoming traffic and blew through stop signs in residential areas.

We’ll pick up the pursuit at the 15:10 mark in the pursuit as the suspect flies towards a cul-de-sac and finds that the business driveway on the other side is a dead-end, blocked by a study gate and no other way in or out.

https://youtu.be/7g_3uG68X8E?t=15m10s

The suspects had every chance to surrender, but attempted to drive around the police cars as officers had their guns drawn and were no doubt shouting commands to stop the car and surrender.

The suspects had every chance to surrender even as they drove forward (above).

The officers—there were four with guns drawn—began firing as the officer on the driver’s side of unit 707 was forced to begin retreating to avoid being trapped between the stolen vehicle and his own squad car (above).

Due to the position of a fence and palm tree to the left of car 707 (above), the suspects would have had to ram the rear of car 707 out of the way, endangering the officer located at the driver’s side rear door.

Driving a vehicle at police officers is considered a deadly force threat in most jurisdictions (if not all), and I think the use of deadly force in this instance will be ruled justifiable.