Man Shot by Deputies in Standoff

Deputies bashed in the door of a Bellflower mobile home Wednesday night and saved a woman held hostage by a gunman who had led police on an erratic, high-speed chase, authorities said.

The chase began in Baldwin Park at 6:40 p.m. when police tried to pull over a car driven by the unidentified 34-year-old suspect, said Baldwin Park Police Capt. Mike Stedman.

The suspect repeatedly tried to sideswipe a California Highway Patrol car during the freeway pursuit, which exceeded speeds of 90 mph, he said.

The suspect tossed a knife from a window before pulling into a mobile home park near the corner of Lakewood and Artesia boulevards about 8 p.m., Stedman said.

There, he grabbed a woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend, put a gun to her head and dragged her into the trailer in the 8500 block of Artesia Boulevard.

Holding a knife at her throat, the suspect broke windows and waved a shotgun at the dozens of deputies surrounding the trailer, Stedman said.

Unable to negotiate a surrender, deputies fired a concussion grenade into the trailer at 9:15 p.m., enabling special weapons team officers to rush in and rescue the hostage.

She was taken to a hospital where she was treated for minor injuries, authorities said.

The suspect, who was shot and wounded during the siege, was carried out in a stretcher a few minutes laterand taken to a hospital.