A man was arrested on suspicion of shooting a man in North Long Beach before carjacking a woman nearby and then crashing the stolen vehicle in Downey Sunday night, police said.
The driver of the stolen vehicle will be booked on suspicion of attempted murder and carjacking-related charges, police said.
Police said the shooting occurred just after 11 p.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of Artesia Boulevard, near Cherry Avenue. Police allege the gunman was riding a bicycle when he approached two people, got into an argument with them and shot one of them in the lower body. The wounded man was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition and the other victim was not injured, the Long Beach Police Department said.
Police allege the gunman then fled the scene before officers arrived.
About 15 minutes later, officers were flagged down near the 6700 block of Paramount Boulevard, a couple of blocks east of the initial shooting, by a woman who said she had been carjacked, police said. The woman told police she was near her vehicle when a man approached her, asked her for a ride, then pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot her.
The woman ran away, uninjured, and the suspect drove off with her vehicle, police said.
Two hours later, at 1:22 a.m. Downey police contacted Long Beach police to inform them the carjacked vehicle crashed into a pole in their jurisdiction and the driver was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
A firearm was recovered from the vehicle, according to police.
According to the LBPD, gang detectives responded to the hospital, identified the driver as the suspect involved in the shooting and carjacking, and took him into custody. Police identified him as Jeffrey Vierregger, a 50-year-old Long Beach resident.
The investigation is ongoing.
City News Service contributed to this report. This story has been updated with more information from police including the suspect’s name.
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