San Bernardino officers and Cal State University officers shot and killed an arson suspect earlier this week near the Cal State San Bernardino campus. The location is just miles from the Lake Arrowhead wildfire, which at presstime had engulfed more than 10,000 acres.
Cal State San Bernardino police spotted the man in an area of scrub near the campus around 6 p.m. Tuesday night. They tried to detain him, but he got in his car and fled.
San Bernardino city police joined the pursuit, as the suspect drove north on Waterman Avenue and up a dirt fire road into the foothills. Officers say they once again tried to take him into custody, but he backed up and rammed a patrol vehicle. Officers opened fire and killed the man.
“Both agencies’ officers fired,” University Police Chief Jimmie Brown told the Los Angeles Times. It is not known who fired the fatal shot.
Police said the 27-year-old arson suspect was from Arizona. At presstime, his identity had not been released.
“We don’t know whether he was an arsonist,” Lt. Scott Patterson of the San Bernardino PD told the Times. “What was related by the Cal State police was that they tried to contact him as a suspicious person in a brush area. Things being how they are, there was a suspicion that he could be an arsonist.”
