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Suspect is in custody after lengthy standoff along Calif. freeway

Associated Press Jun. 8, 2005 12:00 AM

ALHAMBRA, Calif. - An armed man suspected of attempted kidnapping was captured Tuesday after a freeway chase and standoff that ended after deputies tossed tear gas into his minivan, shot and wounded him, and sent a dog to drag him out.

Sheriff's Lt. Gil Carrillo said the man was armed with two guns and a knife.

During the final minutes of the lengthy standoff, deputies used a rubber bullet to smash a rear window and a long pole to shove a tear gas grenade inside the minivan after negotiations failed.

Television reports showed a burst of light as the grenade exploded and smoke filling the minivan.

A deputy shot and wounded the man when he appeared to be pointing a gun at deputies, Carrillo said.

When the driver opened his door as the van filled with smoke, a police dog attacked, tearing the man's shirt and trying to drag the man, who was wearing a seat belt, out of the vehicle. Deputies unbuckled the man and took him into custody, Carrillo said.

The siege ended shortly after 3 p.m.

The gunman was shot in the chest. He also had dog bites to his left arm, Carrillo said. His name and condition were not immediately released.

Earlier, armored sheriff's vehicles had pinned the minivan against a sound barrier and about a dozen SWAT team members surrounded the vehicle after a California Highway Patrol car nudged it and sent it spinning, ending a three-hour chase through two counties.

Traffic on busy Interstate 10 backed up for miles while a negotiator talked to the man, who had at least two weapons and was described as distraught.

A CHP dispatcher, patched into a telephone call the man made to KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV, asked him at one point to toss out one of his weapons.

"I already gave you all the clips and all the ammunition. There's only two bullets in this car, and they're meant for me," he replied.

The chase began around 8:45 a.m. after a man posing as a delivery courier tried to kidnap a woman in the wealthy Lake Sherwood area, Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Eric Nishimoto said.

A short time later, sheriff's deputies spotted the minivan, which fled onto a freeway.