Man fatally shoots himself after firing at 2 police cars
A Pico Rivera man committed suicide on New Year’s Day, after firing without warning at two Laguna Beach police patrol cars as he drove along Pacific Coast Highway, authorities said.
The 35-year-old man shot himself about 3 p.m., authorities said. Neither of the two officers was hit, and the man’s name was not released.
The man had been driving his Chevy Silverado pickup truck north on Pacific Coast Highway when he opened fire on the police cars, authorities said. He pulled into the left-turn lane at Cress Street, stopped the truck and shot himself in the head as police closed in.
“The cops were standing behind the car pointing shotguns at him,” said Joel Murphy, 49, who said he was walking down the street and saw the whole thing.
“They told him to exit the truck and he shot himself in the head. They dragged him out and he died a minute or two later.”
Murphy said the man used what appeared to be a .22- or .38-caliber handgun, though authorities could not confirm that.
“I was pretty shocked,” he said. “I figured he’d exit the truck, but he didn’t; it was kind of upsetting.”
According to Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Darin Lenyi, one of the patrol cars was damaged by the gunfire.
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