A carjacking suspect was taken into custody Friday afternoon after leading police on a chase that began in Chino and wound through Riverside and Orange counties before he crashed into a traffic post in Harbor City.
The chase started around 2:23 p.m. in Chino where officers were responding to calls of a reckless driver, ABC7 reported, citing information from the Chino Police Department. The suspect later crashed into another vehicle but refused to stop, according to the Corona Police Department.
The suspect then pulled inside a Shell gas station at 1550 E. Ontario St. in Corona and carjacked a pickup truck, police said. The chase then moved through the Anaheim area in Orange County.
The driver then got off the freeway and headed toward the Long Beach and Lakewood area, where he reached speeds of up to 100 mph while, at times, driving against traffic.
Live video from CBS showed the driver shooting out of the vehicle multiple times during the chase, including near Poly High School. After the pursuit, police also said they fired back, but they did not immediately provide details on when or where.
At one point the driver encountered a group of school children in a crosswalk—where the driver stopped to let the children cross safely before resuming his flight from authorities.
The suspect eventually got onto the freeway again before making his way to Harbor City and crashing the stolen truck on the corner of Western Avenue and 253rd Street.
He then led police on a short foot chase, where he appeared to be trying to get into someone’s car, before being tackled and apprehended by officers on 252nd Street.
The suspect was identified as 44-year-old Benjamin Gonzalez, a Los Angeles County resident with a violent criminal history, according to Corona police. After being taken into custody, Gonzalez was transported to a hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound. It’s not clear yet whether it was a police bullet that wounded Gonzalez.
In Long Beach, Pacific Coast Highway from Atlantic to Martin Luther King Jr. avenues was closed for several hours Friday evening as officers investigated the chase.
The suspect fired gunshots along that stretch of roadway, but there were no reported injuries, according to authorities.
City News Service contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with more details from police Saturday morning.