LANCASTER, Calif.—An armed man who led authorities on a high-speed pursuit, during which he allegedly fired shots at pursuing officers, was barricaded in a Lancaster mobile home park with a year-old infant.
California Highway Patrol officers began chasing the man in a white Kia SUV around 11:45 p.m. Dec. 20 as he drove at speeds topping 130 mph, officer Patrick Kimball told City News Service.
Sgt. Alejandro Rubio of the agency told reporters that during the chase, which traveled on multiple freeways and surface streets in the Palmdale and Lancaster areas, the suspect called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and said he had a gun and a child in the vehicle, and he threatened to shoot at pursuing officers if they didn’t break away from the pursuit.
At about 1 a.m., the suspect fired shots at officers near 17th Avenue East and Avenue Q, Rubio said, but no officers or vehicles were struck by the gunfire.
The suspect eventually came to a stop outside the Lido Estates mobile home park in the 2500 block of East Avenue I and exited the SUV while holding a gun to the infant’s head, Rubio said. The suspect then backed slowly into a mobile home, beginning the standoff, which was continuing late Wednesday morning.
The California Highway Patrol contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which dispatched a SWAT team to the scene.
Elijandra Rosas, who identified herself as the suspect’s aunt, told reporters at the scene the suspect is named Fernando, and that he had his year-old son with him inside the mobile home. She issued a plea for him to surrender.
“Fernando, please get out of the house, please. I want to see you. I want to see the baby. ... Please, think of your mom and your dad and your sister and your brother, Fernando, please,” she said.
