California: Suspect shot dead after dramatic 14 hour manhunt

Police in northern California have shot dead a man after a dramatic 14-hour manhunt that involved carjackings and a shoot out at an apartment complex in West Sacramento.

The San Francisco Chronicle describes how the chase began at 6am with the unnamed suspect firing shots from a stolen pick-up truck.  

He reportedly crashed into the center median of the Yolo Causeway and fled, forcing a 6-and-a-half hour closure of the freeway, which is one of the state's busiest, to allow police to search for him.

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CBS says the man went on to hot-wire a tractor and drove to the scene of a second carjacking.

The victims of both carjackings spoke to local KOVR radio. 

The first describes being held at gunpoint: "The guy runs around the corner and he's got a backpack in one hand and a revolver in the other. And he ran right up to me and said 'Get out, get out!' Truthfully, I couldn't move fast enough. I'm glad he didn't shoot me," he is quoted as saying.  The second carjacking victim said he was hit on the head by the man who then jumped in his truck and drove off.

Meanwhile, authorities were continuing their investigation, Associated Press explains, and by the evening they closed in on a West Sacramento apartment complex where they fatally shot the possible suspect.

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The Sacramento Bee says that the man "seemed determined to avoid capture", and smashed a hole through an apartment wall, made a barricade of patio furniture and started a fire. 

"We asked him over and over and over again to show his hands but he didn't," the Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos said, adding that "less-than-lethal means" were not a viable alternative.

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