The Sheriff’s Department has identified one of the suspects in the attempted car-jacking in Yucca Valley Thursday morning. Jose Gomez, 19, was shot and injured during a gun battle with law enforcement in San Bernardino following a high-speed chase that started in Yucca Valley after a pharmaceutical representative was fatally shot in his car in the Town Center parking lot. Authorities say Gomez and another 19-year-old man, who was killed and not yet identified, stole a 2002 Chevy Impala in Wasco, near Bakersfield, and drove to the Town Center Mall in Yucca Valley, where they attempted to carjack the car of Obette Lacap, 33, of Beaumont. Sheriff officials believe that when Lacap refused to surrender his car, Gomez or the other suspect shot him through the driver’s side window of his car, and then fled in their previously stolen car. A California Highway Patrol unit spotted the Impala, and began a high-speed pursuit on Highway 62 through Yucca Valley to Interstate 10 west, with speeds of 100 miles per hour or more. The suspects got off the freeway in San Bernardino, crashed their car into a light pole and emerged from the car shooting at police, who returned fire. The unidentified driver was killed and Jose Gomez was wounded. An unidentified CHP officer from the Border Division was grazed in the leg by a bullet. The surviving suspect and the CHP officer were taken to Loma Linda hospital for treatment. Gomez has not yet been officially arrested. The investigation is ongoing.
