Suspect Killed While Trying to Flee Police

A 47-year-old man was booked on suspicion of robbery and murder after his companion was shot to death by police in a chase, authorities said Friday.

Wendel Hunnicutt was booked at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center jail ward, where he was receiving treatment for head injuries received when the car he was driving crashed into a house, Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Stoneman said.

Hunnicutt’s companion, a 45-year-old man whom police have not yet identified, tried to flee on foot after the getaway car crashed, but was shot and killed when he aimed a handgun at two sheriff’s deputies and a Redondo Beach police officer, Stoneman said.

The chase began about 8 p.m. Thursday when a team of deputies and officers from several South Bay police departments, who had been watching the two men for two days, saw them rob the Eay Liquor Store, 14312 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, of $180, Stoneman said.

The officer added that as the two men fled from the liquor store, they fired several shots at police vehicles pursuing them before their car crashed into a house less than a quarter-mile from the liquor store.