An armed carjacker led police on a pursuit through two counties and exchanged gunfire with officers in multiple locations, including Hollister, before he was shot dead by authorities in San Jose, according to the Hollister Police Department.
About 3pm Jan. 21, Hollister Police and San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies became involved in the ongoing pursuit of the suspect. Local authorities were notified that a San Jose Police helicopter was following a stolen green Corvette that had been involved in an armed carjacking in San Jose.
Officers in Hollister located the suspect in the area of Central Avenue and Miller Road at 2:56pm. Responding officers engaged the Corvette in a slow-speed pursuit that ended in the area of Buena Vista Road at Westside Boulevard, police said.
For an unknown reason, the vehicle became disabled at that location. The suspect exited the vehicle armed with a handgun, and exchanged gunfire with officers, according to Hollister PD.
The suspect fled the area on foot and sheriff’s deputies found him in the area of Buena Vista Road and Line Street, where another officer-involved shooting resulted, authorities said. He continued to run and carjacked another vehicle at gunpoint and fled Hollister.
No officers or deputies were injured during the Hollister incident.
The suspect fled in the carjacked vehicle toward San Jose. During the pursuit, the suspect engaged California Highway Patrol officers with gunfire, shooting out the window of the vehicle he was driving, police said.
When he made it to downtown San Jose, the suspect’s vehicle was stopped and he exchanged more gunfire, this time with San Jose Police, authorities said. The suspect was shot and killed by San Jose Police officers.
The suspect shot and injured a San Jose Police officer, who was transported to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive, according to authorities.
The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the officers’ exchange of weapons in Hollister, police said.
Hollister PD and sheriff’s deputies closed Westside Boulevard for several hours after the incident, collecting evidence. The California Department of Justice Forensic Team is assisting with the processing of evidence in Hollister, police added.
