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Accident Kills Man Suspected of Carjacking : Crime: Police say he was fleeing a holdup scene at high speeds in the stolen car when it veered onto the San Diego Freeway shoulder and flipped.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Minutes after he allegedly stole a car at gunpoint outside a Sherman Oaks nightclub and robbed a gas station, a suspected robber was killed when he lost control of the stolen auto and it overturned on the San Diego Freeway, Los Angeles police reported Monday.

The suspected carjacker, fleeing at high speed, veered onto the freeway shoulder near Mulholland Drive and the car flipped, throwing him out and killing him, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Los Angeles police said the death brought an ironic close to an investigation that had begun just minutes earlier.

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“Our officers were taking the report when they got the word that the victim’s car had just been in an accident,” Detective Mel Arnold said. “The driver of the car matched the description of our suspect. A gun and money was recovered. The driver was tragically dead.”

The suspected robber, believed to be about 25 years old, carried no identification.

Arnold said the incident began shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday when a 24-year-old Quartz Hill woman stopped her 1993 Toyota Camry at the valet parking stand outside of the Hola nightclub in the 15900 block of Ventura Boulevard. She gave the keys to the car to a parking attendant and went in.

“The suspect then approached the valet parking guy and displayed a handgun and demanded the keys,” Arnold said.

After grabbing the keys and jumping into the Camry, the thief sped away on Ventura Boulevard. Police believe that the same man stopped four blocks from the nightclub to rob a gas station attendant at gunpoint. From there the robber sped to the nearby San Diego Freeway and headed south.

“Due to his high speed, he went out of control,” CHP Officer Jayne Bartholme said. “He went onto the shoulder and turned over. He was ejected. He was not wearing a seat belt.”

No other cars were involved in the accident and the exact speed of the Camry at the time of the crash had not been determined. Bartholme said CHP officers found $140 and a pistol in the car.

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Arnold said the investigation of the robberies will not technically be completed until the dead man is identified. But he said no other suspects are being sought.

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