Standoff with armed suspect on 91 freeway in Anaheim ends in fatal shooting

An hourslong standoff between an armed pursuit suspect and police that induced a full closure of the 91 freeway in Anaheim Friday ended round midday because the suspect lay on the roadway with a deadly gunshot wound. 

The suspect died by suicide, in line with the Corona Police Division.

The eastbound lanes of the 91 freeway at Imperial Freeway reopened shortly after, with the westbound lanes remaining closed till 3:38 p.m. as police officers carried out their investigation. 

The standoff was preceded by a police chase, as the driving force was needed for an armed stalking incident in Corona round 8 a.m. The suspect led police onto the 91 freeway, inflicting its closure and a site visitors jam for miles earlier than drivers started turning round and driving the incorrect option to filter out.

For hours, the suspect sat inside a blue sedan wedged between two black regulation enforcement autos in the midst of the freeway. Caltrans introduced the freeway closure at 9 a.m., and the standoff continued till someday round midday.

A disaster negotiation workforce from the Corona Police Division Police spoke over the cellphone with the suspect, who police mentioned was thought-about armed and harmful.

The freeway closure prolonged from the place the 91 freeway meets the 55 freeway to the world across the Lakeview Avenue exit on the 91, Caltrans officers mentioned simply earlier than 9 a.m. 

Round 10 a.m., some individuals caught within the jam began turning round and the freeway was just about emptied out by 11 a.m. California Freeway Patrol had assisted drivers in getting off the closed freeway, authorities mentioned.

Greater than a dozen regulation enforcement officers, a few of them holding up weapons pointed on the automotive, and two Okay-9 items have been concerned within the police response.

Two elementary faculties within the space — Orange Unified Pre-Okay and Crescent Elementary College — positioned college students beneath a shelter-in-place order as a result of incident, college officers mentioned. At Orange Unified, mother and father and buses have been in a position to choose up college students early.

From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., aerial footage confirmed vehicles packed tightly collectively on the freeway behind no less than a dozen patrol autos.

CHP confirmed the top of a pursuit, and an ensuing felony investigation led to the closure.

There gave the impression to be a site visitors collision in a single space of the site visitors jam, the place a semi-truck was parked horizontally on the freeway.

“Please keep away from the world and use warning whereas driving,” Caltrans mentioned in a site visitors alert.

Caltrans offers drivers with site visitors updates made in actual time by means of a map that may be discovered right here. 

Mark Liu contributed to this report.