Carjacking suspect shot dead after police chase

Jen Lawson

Friday, May 27, 2005 | 9:43 a.m.

A carjacking suspect was shot and killed by police after he allegedly fired a shot at guards manning the Hoover Dam security checkpoint in Arizona then led police on a chase that ended about 20 miles east of Kingman, Ariz., authorities said.

This was the third time that a driver went through the checkpoint without stopping since they were erected after Sept. 11, 2001, but the only one that ended in a fatality, Bob Walsh, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman, said.

The incident began about 11 p.m. Wednesday when the suspect veered around the checkpoint and continued driving the nine miles to the dam, Walsh said.

The man drove several miles toward the dam, but dam officers activated the steel security barriers that block both travel lanes on the dam and are strong enough to stop a runaway 18-wheeler, Walsh said.

When the driver realized he couldn't get across the dam, the man made a U-turn and headed back toward the checkpoint, firing one shot as he drove, but no one was hit.

Authorities laid tire-puncturing spike strips on the ground and the suspect drove over them, resulting in at least one flat tire, Walsh said.

Dam officers chased him down U.S. 93 toward Kingman, then officers with Kingman Police, the Mohave County sheriff's office and the Arizona Highway Patrol took over.

Officers chased the man for about 90 minutes, during which time he ditched the car he was driving, stole a trooper's cruiser and carjacked two other vehicles in Kingman.

Authorities said the chase ended about 20 miles east of Kingman after officers rammed the car on U.S. 93, disabling it.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Frank Valenzuela said the suspect came out of the car armed with a shotgun he'd taken from the Highway Patrol car. Officers shot the man several times, Valenzuela said.

His name and place of residence wasn't released Thursday.

A woman passenger was hospitalized after complaining of respiratory problems. Valenzuela said she was arrested by Kingman police on outstanding felony warrants.

Police discovered the car he was driving when he ran the Hoover Dam checkpoint had been stolen in a carjacking Wednesday night in Phoenix.

Kingman is about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas.