Suspect dies after hours-long standoff in South Gate

SOUTH GATE (FOX 11 / CNS) - The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Tuesday is investigating an officer-involved shooting that claimed the life of a 40-year-old assault suspect who allegedly fired shots at officers while holed up in a pickup truck in South Gate for more than three hours.

The standoff with South Gate police officers began around 7:35 p.m. Monday in the 2700 block of Illinois Avenue near Stanford Avenue, said Deputy Kelvin Moody of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.

The suspect, who lived in the area, was wanted for pistol-whipping his live-in girlfriend on Sunday, authorities said. The suspect fled the scene following the attack and the woman had to be hospitalized, according to Moody.

The victim returned home Monday evening from the hospital and alerted South Gate police, who had obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect, that her boyfriend was in the area.

Police responded to the 2700 block of Illinois Avenue and found the man in his truck. He refused to get out, prompting a standoff.

Huntington Park police assisted South Gate police in trying to get the man to surrender.

The man could be seen drinking and smoking while reclined in the driver's seat, and police sent gaseous irritants into the truck in an effort to prompt his surrender, according to reports from the scene.

The man told his girlfriend he "wanted to go out in a blaze of glory,'' news outlets reported. Surrounding residences were evacuated as authorities moved in.

At one point, he fired shots out of the passenger door at officers but no officers were struck.

Five South Gate police officers and one from Huntington Park returned fire on the man, and once he was shot, he was brought out of the truck by a police dog, authorities said.

He was determined to have been fatally wounded and was pronounced dead at the scene, Moody said. A handgun was recovered from the scene, he said.