O.C. Spear Gun Theft Sparks Chase, Shooting

A Lancaster man who claimed he was a CIA agent stole a spear gun from a Newport Beach dive shop and was wounded by police gunfire Wednesday during a two-hour, televised police chase that ended in a standoff on Interstate 210 in Los Angeles County’s Montrose area, investigators said.

Gregory Cabral, 35, was listed in serious but stable condition Wednesday night at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles with gunshot wounds to his head, wrist and chest, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. John Desmond.

The pursuit started about 4 p.m. after Newport Beach K-9 officers spotted Cabral driving a red pickup north on Pacific Coast Highway. It ended about 6 p.m. in Montrose when the driver staggered, bleeding, from his stalled pickup truck and was handcuffed by officers.

Recognizing the truck’s description from a police radio report of a petty theft at a dive shop, the Newport Beach officers had followed the man through Huntington Beach. They attempted to stop Cabral near the intersection of Atherton Street and Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach, Desmond said, and it was there that shots were fired at the truck. No other details of the shooting were available.

Lein Jenkins, a manager at The Aquatic Center on West Coast Highway in Newport Beach, said Cabral tried to pay for a $135 spear gun there with a personal check. The store clerk rejected the check after finding that the account held insufficient funds, Jenkins said.

In response, Cabral said: “I’m with the CIA and I’ll take this gun for evidence because it’s stolen,” Jenkins said.

Walking out with the spear gun, Cabral stopped a customer walking into the shop, identified himself as from the CIA and told the customer he was under arrest, Desmond said. The customer ignored him.

Jenkins said he followed the man to his truck and as he wrote down the license plate number, Cabral recited the plate numbers to help him before waving and driving off.

“He was super casual, it was like a totally funny scene,” Jenkins said. “It was just like a customer coming in and walking out with something.”

CHP officers in Los Angeles joined the pursuit about 4:30 p.m. on the northbound San Gabriel River Freeway near South Street in Cerritos, said CHP Officer Shirley Gaines. Pursuit speeds ranged from 40 to 70 mph.

Cabral’s red pickup with a large lumber rack over the cab and payload area traveled north on the freeway then west on I-210. The driver appeared calm, with his elbow resting on the open window sill as if he were on a Sunday drive, even though he was bleeding from gunshot wounds.

He drove through Arcadia, Monrovia, Pasadena and La Canada before smoke began pouring from beneath the pickup’s hood and the truck stalled near the Lowell Avenue exit about 5:10 p.m.

About a dozen CHP patrol cars formed a semicircle about 30 yards behind the pickup, with officers shouting on bullhorns for the driver to surrender. Traffic moved slowly but unimpeded on the eastbound 210, where a few cars stopped on the shoulder and median to get a better view.

Cabral remained in the cab of the truck, ignoring officers’ commands, for more than 40 minutes before emerging.

It was not known Wednesday night what charges Cabral will face. But the list will begin with petty theft and evading arrest, Desmond said.