One of the men suddenly approached the driver’s side, pointing a shotgun toward the driver and banging the window with the barrel of the gun, Lorenz said.
“The victim, fearing that he was going to be shot, decided to make an attempt to flee,” Lorenz said. “And as he sped away, he heard a loud bang to the rear of his pickup truck as he was driving away.”
Police found bullet holes in the back of the pickup truck, which apparently came from one shotgun blast, Glendale Police Det. Keith Soboleski said.
The driver, who followed them in order to relay information to police, saw the two men run to a Ford Mustang, Soboleski said.
“After it happened, he saw them in a car, and he trailed them from a distance and gave information to the police dispatch as the police were rolling in,” Soboleski said.
About 17 police cars flooded the scene, sealing off the block and immediately apprehending three men in the Ford Mustang, Lorenz said.
One suspect, the juvenile, jumped out of the vehicle toting a shotgun and was found hiding on the 200 block of West Chestnut Street, he said.
“They ultimately found him hiding in some heavy brush,” Lorenz said. “The suspect was found by the K-9 unit and taken into custody.”
Glendale police are working with Los Angeles County prosecutors to have the 17-year-old tried as an adult, Lorenz said.
“So he’s going to have to step up to the plate as far as the charges are concerned . . . due to the seriousness of the crime,” he said.
Police credited the combined efforts of the victim who relayed information to police, the arriving officers, the K-9 unit and the dispatchers who handled the emergency call, Lorenz said.
“You can almost call it an anatomy of the call,” he said. “There’s a lot more to it than the officer showing up and putting on the handcuffs.”
CHRIS WIEBE covers public safety and the courts. He may be reached at (818) 637-3232 or by e-mail at chris.wiebe@ latimes.com.
