Police Pursue Carjacking Suspect Through Hollywood

Heard helicopters and police sirens on full blast Thursday night?

That's because officers were pursuing a man suspected of two carjackings. The suspect led a chase that passed through Hollywood and ended in Koreatown.

Shonchy Thaopraseuth, a San Bernardino man was killed in an officer-involved shooting following a chase and two carjackings, police said.

Officers chased Thaopraseuth through parts of Los Angeles for more than an hour Thursday after a witness reported a carjacking at a gas station at Eastern Avenue and Valley Boulevard in El Sereno at 6:16 p.m., Sgt. Karla Barraza of the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollenbeck Station said.

During the investigation, Wilshire Boulevard was closed between Vermont and New Hampshire avenues, and Vermont Avenue was closed between Sixth and Seventh streets. The streets were reopened about 7:30 a.m. Friday, police said.

"At the (All America) gas station, a lady pumping gas said an elderly man was being robbed," Barraza said.

Alerted that the suspect was seen heading toward Lincoln Park, police spotted him about a half hour later near Eastern Avenue and Valley Boulevard and gave chase, Barraza said.

As police and news helicopters hovered overhead, Thaopraseuth could be seen near the Hollywood & Highland Center signaling lane changes and, on occasion, leisurely pulling over.

Thaopraseuth pulled into a Shell gas station near Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue shortly before 8 p.m., Barraza said.

Knowing that he was armed, officers approached as a man was pumping gasoline into his car nearby. The suspect appeared to wave a gun and police unleashed a hail of bullets, shattering the windows of the car as the man on the other side of the gas platform ducked.

"This is not a video game. This is real life. People's lives are in danger," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. "It appeared the shooting was of short duration which would intimate that all officers saw the same thing and reacted to the same thing."

Police say Thaopraseuth had been involved in an earlier carjacking Thursday afternoon.

"In the city of San Bernardino, the individual that you see behind me we believe was involved in the first carjacking this afternoon where he stole the car from an individual and drove it to Hollenbeck area, city of Los Angeles, about 6:15 this evening in the alley in the area of Valley and Eastern," Cmdr. Andy Smith, an LAPD spokesman, told reporters at the shooting scene.

"The individual robbed at gunpoint, and stole a car, the Saturn you see behind me, from a 65-year-old individual. He ended up pointing a gun at some point, while he was seated in the car, at some individuals inside of that (Shell) gas station and an officer-involved shooting occurred."

Thaopraseuth's sister told KCAL9 this was unexpected behavior for him.

"He's not bad at all, like I don't know what happened, but he's not bad. No one expected this from my brother," Puong Ma told KCAL9. "I feel like I don't believe it I feel like it's not real. My brother was only 22, his birthday was like last month."

Police said a .38 caliber handgun was recovered at the scene.

— City News Service was used in this report.

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