Heist Suspect Found Dead

A suspect in a heist that began when a pickup truck crashed into a check-cashing business in Long Beach on Saturday night was later found dead with no apparent injuries in the frontyard of a nearby residence, authorities said Sunday.

Another suspect, a man in his late 20s or early 30s, had been arrested with a large sum of money about an hour earlier, after a high-speed chase.

The pickup drove into the business in the 6500 block of Atlantic Avenue about 7 p.m., plowing through the front of the building and crashing through the rear wall and into a secured area, said Long Beach Police Sgt. David Marander.

Pointing guns at two employees, two men grabbed an undisclosed amount of money and drove away in a stolen van they had parked nearby.

“They left the left side sliding door open,” Marander said. “One of our officers driving westbound on Artesia at Atlantic saw them and thought it was unusual they were driving at a high rate of speed with a door open. He flipped a U-turn and tried to pull them over.”

During the chase, the van crashed into a liquor store and the two men ran, he said. Long Beach SWAT officers closed off the area, searched for the men and found one hiding in a nursery about a quarter of a mile away, Marander said.

Meanwhile, neighbors in the 6800 block of Lime Avenue called police about noises coming from a yard. That’s where officers found the body of the second suspect.

“He was laying kind of on his side, not trying to conceal his location,” Marander said. “Typically, this is a ploy guys will use, where they won’t go along with the program, they won’t follow orders.”

Marander said officers shot the man with a Taser electric stun gun and he didn’t react.

“He was dead for who knows what reason. Could be an injury from a fall, a heart attack or some other natural reason,” Marander said. “There was no obvious reason, no blood or anything. We have no idea how this guy died.”

A coroner’s investigator said there might be more information today.

Police said they had not determined the name of the dead man and were still trying to confirm the identity of the suspect who was arrested.