Gunman Commits Suicide After Shooting Rampage

A 27-year-old Victorville man fatally shot one bystander in Baldwin Park and critically wounded another person before turning his assault weapon on himself after an eight-hour police search, authorities said Thursday.

Michael Colgan was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound behind a Baldwin Park home early Thursday morning, hours after his shooting rampage at a nearby motel shut down the San Bernardino Freeway, Baldwin Park Police Lt. Bob Curtis said.

Police arrived at the Queen’s Lodge Motel in the 14000 block of Merced Avenue about 5:35 p.m. to find an unidentified man shot to death in the parking lot, Curtis said. They spotted Colgan dashing from the motel, his rifle at his side, and gave chase.

Colgan fired at the police who were following him, then slipped through the maze of culverts beneath the San Bernardino Freeway and emerged in the 14500 block of Dalewood Street. He stopped a passing car and fired several times through the door, critically wounding the driver in an apparent attempted carjacking, then dashed away again, Curtis said.

With help from the California Highway Patrol and the police department of adjacent West Covina, officers carefully scoured the neighborhood, closing offramps of the San Bernardino Freeway during the eight-hour search.

Eventually, they found Colgan dead in the backyard of a single-family home, Curtis said.

Investigators Thursday were still trying to determine what prompted the shooting. Curtis said Victorville police had reported him as missing and armed and dangerous. Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Mark Bailey said Colgan had apparently been seeking his recently estranged wife, who lives in Baldwin Park.