Dennis RomeroUpdated at the bottom: Looks like the suspect opened fire on cops. The headline has changed.
A crazy chase of an alleged carjacker and possible murder suspect through the streets of Westlake, Echo Park, Koreatown and Hollywood ended tonight as might be expected:
Cops shot the guy at West Seventh Street and Bixel Avenue just west of downtown shortly after 7 p.m. (video after the jump), LAPD Officer Rosario Herrara told the Weekly.
It all started …
… about 6 p.m. at Sunset Boulevard and Rosemont Avenue in Hollywood when officers on patrol homed in on a Lojack signal from a vehicle stolen in a carjacking in North Hollywood earlier in the day, she said.
The driver of the white Honda Civic led cops on a slow but nonetheless riveting chase around the area, making trips to Hollywood, Koreatown and back to the Westlake area, where it ended.
The man might also be wanted for murder, Herrera said. And police radio-based reports that the guy might have had an “AK-47” and a handgun in his lap didn't help to cool off the situation, either.
Turns out he had a rifle, Herrera told us, and when the car went out of control and stopped on Seventh and Bixel, he allegedly hopped out with it.
That's when officers opened fire.
It's not clear if he survived. The suspect was hospitalized. No officers were injured, Herrera said.
She couldn't confirm reports that the suspect's brother might have been fatally shot by cops in a past confrontation.
[Update at 11:08 p.m.]: CBS Los Angeles aired footage of the suspect getting out with a rifle, possibly an assault weapon, and apparently opening fire on cops as he was on his back, ultimately drawing return fire.
The station said the suspect was expected to survive his wounds, including gunshots and bites from a police dog.
Both CBS2 and Fox 11 News reported that he was wanted for an alleged homicide in the Rampart area in July.
And both stations say a possible brother of the suspect named Jack Schlesinger was killed by cops only about a mile and a half away, two years ago this month, following a similar chase that ended with police gunfire after he emerged from a car toting an assault-type weapon.
In tonight's case, Commander Andrew Smith told reporters at the scene of the shootout that the suspect made it known that he would not be taken alive.
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