DOWNEY (CNS) - A man accused of killing a Downey liquor store clerk and then firing shots at police officers during a wild pursuit from Maywood to Vernon three days later was charged today with murder and assault with a firearm on a police officer.
Dylan Andres Lindsey, 24, of Torrance, was charged with murder for the May 7 shooting death of Gurpreet Singh, 44, of Cerritos, at ASL Liquor and Market in the 8500 block of Paramount Boulevard.
He was also charged with eight counts of assault with a firearm on a peace officer involving two Downey police officers, five Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and one Bell Gardens police officer on Friday, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint alleges that Lindsey personally and intentionally discharged a handgun during each of the crimes. The murder charge alleges that Lindsey was on probation at the time of the fatal shooting, although it was unclear why.
Lindsey is accused of firing “numerous rounds from a large-caliber revolver at pursuing officers and deputies” during the Friday police pursuit, according to Deputy Morgan Arteaga of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Information Bureau.
Lindsey remains hospitalized in critical condition and no date has been set yet for his arraignment. He suffered “at least two gunshot wounds, one of which is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” according to Arteaga.
Alison Hart, 37, of Redondo Beach, who is accused of driving the car during the police chase, was charged with one felony count each of fleeing a pursuing peace officer while driving recklessly and being an accessory after the fact. She is set to be arraigned June 4 in a Norwalk courtroom.
Friday's chase began when Downey police detectives saw a man believed to the suspect in Singh's killing getting into a Toyota Prius outside a residence in Maywood, Downey Police Lt. Kathleen Mendoza. Officers tried to pull over the vehicle, but the female driver sped off. During the chase, the male passenger could be seen leaning out of a window of the Prius and firing shots at pursuing officers.
The chase went north on the Long Beach (710) Freeway then onto streets in Commerce and Vernon.
“He was hanging out the side of a car speeding down the freeway and the surface streets, firing a large-caliber revolver,” Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Lt. Derrick Alfred told reporters at the scene.
The vehicle eventually stopped in traffic near Bandini Boulevard and Downey Road in Vernon, where the male passenger in the Prius again began firing at officers, who returned fire, shattering windows on the car.
Bullets struck two Downey police vehicles, and a civilian down range of the shootout suffered a “superficial graze wound,” Alfred said. No law enforcement officers were injured in the shooting.
The female driver of the Prius, subsequently identified as Hart, got out of the vehicle and surrendered a short time later. She appeared to have blood on her.
“The driver of the vehicle was ... struck by gunfire,” Alfred said.
The woman was taken to a hospital where she was treated for a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Upon her release from a hospital, she was taken into custody and booked, LASD Deputy Erin Liu said.
The passenger remained in the car, but appeared motionless as officers and more than a dozen cruisers were positioned behind the Prius. Sheriff's armored vehicles, called Bearcats, were brought to the scene and boxed in the car.
Authorities deployed a bomb squad robot to get a closer look in the car and they also deployed flash-bang devices, but the suspect remained inside. Deputies eventually approached the car and pulled the suspect out, then placed him into an ambulance.
The suspect's weapon was recovered at the scene, Liu said.