Driver of Motor Home Slain After Pursuit

A driver of a motor home who led officers on a chase through four counties was shot to death early Wednesday by sheriff’s deputies after they say he fired on them outside a home here.

The confrontation ended after more than three hours of pursuit that began outside Camp Pendleton in San Diego County and went through Orange and Los Angeles counties.

After the driver crashed the motor home through the fence at the home, two of his passengers fled, said Riverside Sheriff’s Det. Mark Wasserman. But the man fired a round at deputies that struck a house across the street, Wasserman said. “He came out with a gun in his hands and went toward the house and then went back out pointing the gun at officers. They then shot and killed him,” Wasserman said.

The dead man’s identity had not been released as of late Wednesday. The passengers were questioned and released after it was determined that they had merely hitched a ride and were not responsible for the incident.

The chase began in Oceanside after someone flagged down a police officer and told him that someone in the motor home had tried to sell him marijuana, authorities said.

The pursuit, at speeds of up to 75 mph, went north into Orange County, downtown Los Angeles and to the Santa Ana Freeway. It proceeded east on the San Bernardino and Pomona freeways and to surface streets from Riverside to Lake Elsinore.