Deputy Kills 13-Year-Old to End High-Speed Car Chase in San Diego
A sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a 13-year-old Somali youth Thursday morning after he led deputies on a car chase at speeds as high as 100 mph, officials said.
Ibrahim Hassan was killed when he drove at deputies attempting to block him from driving the wrong way onto an off-ramp from Interstate 5, according to Police Lt. Ray Sigwalt.
Sigwalt said deputies had responded to a 4:15 a.m. call from residents in Spring Valley that the driver of a Pontiac Grand Am had sideswiped several cars. The chase covered two freeways and went into downtown San Diego with the car going the wrong way on one-way streets, Sigwalt said.
If the car had managed to reach Interstate 5, it would have been traveling north in southbound lanes just as the morning rush hour was beginning.
Five deputies were involved in the chase, with one firing three or four shots from a distance of five feet as the Pontiac moved toward him, Sigwalt said. The driver was hit once in the neck and pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members said the middle school student was on medication for mental instability. The car belonged to his brother.
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