Costa Mesa Man Killed by Police After Car Chase : Crime: After the suspect’s pickup truck rammed a barricade, he was shot by an Anaheim officer after reportedly reaching into his jacket. No weapon was found, and no one else was injured.

An Anaheim police officer fatally wounded a man Thursday after a vehicle chase ended in a residential neighborhood, where the suspect rammed a barricade set up by police and attempted to run away.

Police identified the dead man as Ricky Strickland, 32, of Costa Mesa. They did not identify the police officer who fired on the suspect when he allegedly reached into his jacket pocket.

No other injuries were reported from the pileup at Wilken Way and Daryl Lane, just inside Garden Grove and about a mile south of Disneyland, where the shooting took place shortly after 4:30 p.m.

Garden Grove police, who are investigating the shooting, said no weapon was found on the suspect.

Police said the incident began shortly after 4 p.m. in the 2600 block of West Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim when officers, working on an auto theft surveillance detail, attempted to detain Strickland.

Garden Grove Police Lt. Ron W. Weigand said Strickland attempted to run down the officers in a pickup truck, prompting the chase. It was unknown whether Strickland was wanted in connection with a vehicle theft, but Weigand said the suspect was known to the Anaheim officers as a “parolee.”

At the end of the chase, Weigand said, Strickland jumped from the pickup and ran across a yard. He said Strickland then turned to face the officers and reached into his jacket. That’s when the officer opened fire.

Several witnesses interviewed by The Times said they heard one officer fire three or four quick shots. None of the witnesses said they saw the suspect with a weapon of any kind but several added that they were too far away to be sure.

Witnesses said a red Toyota pickup truck that Strickland was driving came barreling down Wilken Way shortly after 4 p.m. with five or six police patrol cars close behind.

“I heard the sirens, and then I heard the (police) helicopter,” said Carol Ajifu, who was washing her car on her front lawn at the time. “They just came tearing around the corner. The guy must have been doing 80.”

As officers closed in on the suspect, two police cars broke off and formed a blockade across Wilken, witnesses said.

“The cops were kind of being careful but you could tell they were in hot pursuit,” said Johnny Gibbs, a Garden Grove High School student who was home when the cars came racing by.

Seconds later, the truck, its driver barely in control, headed straight for the barricade, never slowing down.

“If anything, he accelerated,” said Henry Ryan, who lives just across the street from the crash scene and who was watering his lawn at the time.

“This guy (Strickland) turns to me right before he hit,” he said. “He looks right at me and shrugs.”

The impact smashed the front of one patrol car. A second police vehicle, trailing just a few feet behind, then rammed the truck.

Witnesses said the spectacular collision lifted both the truck and police cars from the ground. Despite the impact, Strickland managed to jump from the truck and run.

Witnesses said officers were close behind, however, just before the man was shot.

“My girlfriend turned to me and said: ‘Oh my God, they killed him,’ ” Ryan said. “We knew right away.”

Officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene. Strickland was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead. It was unknown how many times he was struck by the gunfire.

Police Killing Anaheim police fatally shoot a suspect after a lengthy chase.