According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, it all began shortly after 2 p.m. when deputies spotted a suspect wanted for grand theft driving a Cadillac near Pats Ranch Road and Limonite Avenue. Deputies followed the driver and later attempted to pull the vehicle, but the driver fled, sparking a chase.
The chase continued through the city of Jurupa Valley and onto the eastbound 10 Freeway, and eventually onto the 15 Freeway. During the pursuit, deputies reportedly received information that the driver was armed with a handgun.
The suspect led deputies on the chase for nearly an hour before it temporarily came to an end with a standoff at Bellegrave Avenue and Etiwanda Avenue next to Jurupa Valley High School. The school was placed on lockdown as a precaution.
The driver sat at the intersection for several minutes, in a standoff with upwards of a dozen Riverside County Sheriff's Department vehicles. Officials said they gave the suspects commands to surrender, but he failed to comply.
Then, the suspect took off again, running over a spike strip. Within seconds, a Riverside County sheriff's deputy got right behind the Cadillac with a grappler device designed to help stop pursuits by going under the vehicle's rear wheels, tying up the wheel and the axle.
The grappler didn't attach to the Cadillac, and the driver lost control, swerving across all lanes of Bellegrave Avenue near Jurupa Avenue.
AIR7 was live when the chase came to a dramatic end, with the suspect slamming head-on at full speed into a concrete wall behind a nearby home on Antigua Drive.
A man in the yard heard the sirens, looked over the wall, saw the vehicle approaching and ran out of the way just in time.
"All of a sudden, I see a white car start coming down the street like really fast. And then they did their maneuver, and I see it coming at the wall, and I ran away from the wall as fast as I could. As I was going, I just heard like a 'boom,' and out of the corners of my eyes, I could see like things flying away from me," the man said. "This is insane. Like, you would never think this would happen to you, pretty much."
The crash sparked yet another standoff. Two armored vehicles pulled up behind the suspect's vehicle, in addition to several sheriff's department patrol vehicles.
The front windshield of the Cadillac was shattered, and the vehicle had heavy front-end damage. At one point, AIR7 video showed movement inside the Cadillac after the crash. It appeared the driver moved to the back of the vehicle.
The Riverside Sheriff's Crisis Negotiation Team said it was speaking with the suspect and working to negotiate a peaceful surrender. After multiple attempts to negotiate a surrender, the suspect stopped all communication with deputies, the sheriff's department said.
During the standoff, AIR7 spotted deputies using a drone to try to get a look inside the Cadillac. Shortly after 5 p.m., Eyewitness News reporter Leticia Juarez heard a loud bang at the scene.
Deputies eventually used a battering arm to smash the rear window before deploying a tear gas canister into the vehicle. Still, the suspect did not exit the vehicle.
Deputies finally opened a rear passenger door and pulled the man out around 5:45 p.m. First responders were seen tending to the man as he lay motionless on the ground. In a later update, the sheriff's department said the suspect suffered from injuries consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities said the suspect's name will not be released at this time, pending notification of his family.
The investigation into the chase and crash is ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Riverside County Sheriff's Investigator Rick Ramirez or Riverside District Attorney Senior Investigator Mario Moreno at (951) 955-2777.