Stolen limo leads to shootout with police

Stephen Curran

Monday, Sept. 27, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

What started as simple bad luck for a Las Vegas limousine driver became an interstate standoff Thursday that landed the man accused of stealing the limo in a California jail facing charges of attempted murder of a police officer.

Sysaketh Monelilay, 23, of Visalia, Calif., was arrested Thursday afternoon when California Highway Patrol officers responding to a report of the stolen limousine found it parked by the side of Highway 58 near Mojave.

CHP officers say the 2001 Lincoln limo was stolen from the Little White Wedding Chapel at 1301 Las Vegas Blvd. South earlier that morning, while the driver was changing a CD in the back. They allege Monelilay drove the limo across state lines, where it ran out of gas.

A passer-by returning home from Colorado saw a report on Las Vegas television of the stolen limo and contacted officers when he saw it parked near the road, Steve Hunsaker, a spokesman for the CHP, said.

Monelilay was arrested after officers determined the limo, which had the phone number and logo from the wedding chapel on the side, was the same one reported stolen, Hunsaker said.

However, after being placed in the patrol car's front seat, Hunsaker said, Monelilay writhed from his handcuffs while officers searched the limo. Troopers allege Monelilay tried to steal the officer's car, and when the officer tried to remove him from the moving vehicle, Monelilay grabbed the officer's gun and began shooting.

No one was shot, but the officer was taken to a nearby hospital for minor injuries, Hunsaker said. Army Sgt. David Pierce, who passed the incident on his way back to nearby Fort Irwin, helped subdue Monelilay, according to police.

Charlotte Richards, proprietor of the wedding chapel, said the unlocked vehicle was stolen while it was parked in front of the chapel waiting for a newlywed couple to exit. The driver, she said, left the car running.

And, although she had never had a limo stolen in her 45 years at the chapel, her advice to drivers suddenly proved true, Richards said.

"Just as he turned around, he saw someone getting into the front seat," she said. "But I tell all my drivers, 'You should never leave the key in the ignition.' "

Richards said the driver was not injured, but that he left his cellular phone and wallet in the front seat.

Monelilay remained in a San Bernardino, Calif., jail Friday on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer.

The $60,000 limo remained Friday at a CHP impound lot, Hunsaker said.

"It could have been a lot worse," Hunsaker said. "If you're trying to flee by stealing a patrol car, you're pretty desperate. Those are desperate moves."

The incident slowed traffic on that stretch of the highway, which was closed for more than five hours, according to the CHP.

Richards said she believed God intervened on behalf of the officers.

"It's a good thing he didn't make it home," she said of Monelilay. "It's a good thing he ran out of gas. There were so many good things that happened. That's what happens when you pray."