A man who shot three men and carjacked two women during a 15-minute crime spree in North Long Beach ended up barricading himself and a hostage inside a Carson church before he eventually killed himself after an hours-long standoff, police said today.
Police said the chaotic series of events began around 7:16 p.m. Thursday when they responded to multiple reports of shootings, carjackings and a kidnapping in a North Long Beach area near De Forest Park.
When officers arrived to the 200 block of East 57th Street, they found a man that had been shot in the upper body. He was transported to a local hospital by Long Beach Fire Department personnel and is expected to survive, according to the LBPD.
Following the first shooting, the gunman, a 29-year-old Long Beach resident, shot at and missed a woman on the same block while he tried to steal her car and flee the area, police said.
The gunman proceeded to steal her car, but when it gave out on him, he fled south toward the 80 block of East 55th Street where he shot another man in the upper body, according to a news release from the LBPD. That victim is also expected to survive after being taken to a local hospital, police said.
The gunman then headed west to the next block where he held a woman at gunpoint before getting in her car and kidnapping her, police said. During that carjacking, police say the gunman shot a third man, who suffered a graze wound to the upper body and transported himself to a hospital.
With the woman forced to drive, the gunman made his way to a church on the 21600 block of Alameda Street in Carson, according to the LBPD. There, he took the woman inside and held her hostage, police said.
At around 8:30 p.m., police located the gunman inside the church, alongside the woman he kidnapped and other adults that knew him, police said.
Officers surrounded the church as SWAT officers stood by. Eventually, the female hostage was able to leave the church unharmed, police said.
But after an hours-long SWAT standoff, in which a hostage negotiator tried to convince the gunman to surrender, shots rang from inside the church, police said.
Upon hearing the shots, SWAT personnel moved into the church where they found the suspect with self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the upper and lower body, according to the news release. No officers fired shots, the LBPD said.
LA County Fire Department crews responded to the scene and transported the suspect to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from his injuries, police said. Authorities haven’t yet released his name.
The people inside the church who appeared to know the gunman were located unharmed, police said.
The motive behind each incident remains unclear, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with more information from police.
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