2 Held After Pursuit, Gunfight

What started out as the brazen kidnapping of a Santa Ana contractor known to carry large sums of cash ended with a wild police pursuit through Long Beach in which one of the suspects, a 14-year-old gang member, fired dozens of shots at officers using an AK-47 rifle, authorities said Thursday.

The two alleged kidnappers were arrested and the victim was found unharmed--but only after daylong negotiations and what police described as unbelievable good fortune.

“It was a fluke,” Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna said at a news conference. “We were very lucky.”

The situation began early Tuesday, when a 34-year-old Santa Ana man whom police described as a private carpeting contractor was abducted from a driveway near his home. The assailants threw the victim into a car while firing at occupants of another car parked nearby, police said.

Authorities said the victim was known in the neighborhood to carry large sums of money. The kidnappers called his family and demanded a ransom after they discovered he didn’t have any money, Luna said.

The family notified police, who began negotiations.

“It was getting complicated because they were changing dollar figures and locations several times to see if they were being followed,” said Luna, adding that the ransom demands at one point reached $100,000.

The kidnappers demanded that any ransom exchange occur in the Long Beach-Seal Beach area, but the time had not been finalized. In preparation, police stationed officers in unmarked cars in the area.

Before an exchange time was set, officers in an unmarked car pulled up next to the suspects’ car. The officers and the car’s occupants got into what Luna described as a staring match.

“The officers followed them because they looked suspicious and they had a hunch,” Luna said. “They were kind of ‘mad-dogging’ each other.”

Suddenly, as the police pulled behind the car, the 14-year-old passenger allegedly opened fire through the back window with a rifle. That began a three-mile pursuit through the streets of Seal Beach, Long Beach and Lakewood.

“The officers were shocked that the windows just blew up,” Luna said, adding that one bullet lodged in a cage rack between the two officers.

Six police cars followed the suspects, who continued to fire more than 40 rounds at officers, Luna said. The bullets struck the hoods and bumpers on patrol cars and the side of a passing motorist’s car.

The chase ended when the suspects’ car jumped a curb at a gas station and hit a fence at Los Coyotes Diagonal and Stevely Avenue, where nearly 20 Los Angeles County and Long Beach officers were training with their police dogs, Luna said.

A gun battle erupted between pursuing officers and the two suspects, who eventually ran into a residential area. Police discovered the kidnapped contractor in the back seat of the car. Authorities also discovered shell casings, an AK-47 with a high-capacity magazine, an automatic pistol and a high-powered revolver in the car.

Police set up a 10-block perimeter and sent the K-9 units in to help in the search. The 14-year-old, whose name was not released because of his age, surrendered in front of a home. Luna said the boy is a member of a Los Angeles street gang and has an extensive criminal history.

Juan Diego Perez, 27, of Los Angeles was found shortly thereafter, hidden between two homes.

Both suspects face several charges, including attempted murder of a police officer, kidnapping, and hit and run.

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High-Speed End to Kidnapping

Juan Diego Perez, 27, of Los Angeles, and a 14-year-old boy were charged with kidnapping after the abduction of a 34-year-old Santa Ana man for ransom led to a police chase. How it happened:

1. Suspects spot unmarked police car, flee north on San Diego Freeway. One allegedly fires at police.

2. Two marked and four unmarked police cars follow. Suspects exit Woodruff Ave.

3. Suspects’ car jumps curb, hits fence. Suspects escape on foot, arrested in area.

Graphics reporting by MAI TRAN/Los Angeles Times