Glendale Officer Kills Suspect in Boyle Heights

A police officer investigating an armed robbery shot and killed one of the suspects after the man tried to run him down in a Boyle Heights alley, police said Wednesday.

Two Glendale officers had gone to Boyle Heights late Tuesday looking for a 22-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, both suspects in last week’s shooting and robbery of a woman making a bank deposit in Glendale, police spokesman Rick Young said.

The officers saw the man and woman about 11:25 p.m. in a Ford Bronco in a long alley between Wabash Avenue and Folsom Street, Young said. One of the officers left the police car to approach the Bronco on foot, he said.

The man drove the Bronco at one of the officers, who fired eight shots at the driver, said Glendale City Atty. Scott Howard.

“He was scared for his life so he fired several rounds into the windshield,” Young said. “He jumped out of the way as the suspect’s vehicle raced by him, brushing alongside of him.”

The mortally wounded driver didn’t stop. Young said police chased the suspects until the Bronco crashed into a telephone pole six blocks away.

The 22-year-old suspect died early Wednesday at County-USC Medical Center, Young said.

Glendale police did not release the names of the suspects or the officers involved, citing in a statement the “ongoing criminal investigation with other possible outstanding suspects.”

About 15 minutes before the shooting, Young said, a third suspect was arrested in Temple City in connection with the Jan. 27 Glendale robbery.

In that incident, detectives said, the suspects stole about $3,000 after following a woman taking deposits from an Eagle Rock hair salon to a Glendale bank. The woman, who was shot four times, was reported in fair condition at a Pasadena hospital Wednesday.

The suspects Tuesday were booked on suspicion of attempted murder with bail set at $500,000.

Los Angeles police are investigating the incident. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Ed Funes said police officers often cross onto turf patrolled by other law enforcement agencies as they conduct investigations.