High speed chase shuts down freeway

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A shooting suspect raced through Bay Area freeways Friday, leading authorities on a high-speed chase that spanned four counties and resulted in a standoff, and ultimately, the suspect’s death.

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“It was a pursuit that started at Rohnert Park from an earlier call of a freeway shooting,” California Highway Patrol officer David de Rutte told KCBS Radio. “A few hours of investigation, we located the vehicle in Rohnert Park.”

CBS News identified the vehicle as a silver Toyota sedan. In his interview with KCBS Radio, de Rutte said the initial incident occurred in Santa Rosa.

“This morning, a shot was fired into a black SUV in Santa Rosa, and there was… no passengers in the vehicle. The driver was okay. She exited the freeway and was able to call 911, and that’s where we spoke with her,” he explained.

From Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, de Rutte said a pursuit began at around 2 p.m. PT and ensued all the way southbound into Marin County. The suspect led authorities on to the “37, back onto the 101, onto the 580 bridge, and onto the 80,” said the officer.

“Aerial footage initially captured the vehicle as it was traveling through Richmond. Multiple police and CHP units followed the silver Toyota Corolla on eastbound I-80, passing through San Pablo, Hercules, Rodeo and Vallejo, slowing at times due to traffic,” according to CBS.

Police were able to flatten the suspect’s tires with a spike strip near I-80’s interchange with Highway 12, where a 2-hour standoff started. At the end of the standoff, the suspect shot themselves.

As of Friday evening, the police did not know the suspect’s motive and de Rutte was not able to tell KCBS Radio about their identity.

“That’s all under investigation,” he said.

According to USA Today , someone in the U.S. is killed during a high-speed chase between police and a suspect nearly every day. Around half of those fatalities are bystanders or passengers.

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