UPDATE 2:42 p.m.
LAPD Public Information Officer Liliana Preciado said the suspect’s name is Brian Cruz, 44, of Los Angeles. Cruz was still being booked while at the hospital and the extent of his charges are not currently available.
UPDATE 1:53 p.m.
During a press conference Monday at the Sunset Boulevard home where the third carjacking occurred, LAPD Capt. Brian Thomas tells the Post Monday’s series of a kidnapping, carjackings, home invasions and accidents led to the arrest of a white man in his mid 40s. He was arrested in Malibu following the fourth and final crash of the day by Los Angeles County sheriffs.
Three people were injured in the final crash. Two victims were airlifted to a local hospital while the suspect was transported by ambulance.
On Monday afternoon, the watch commander for the LASD Lost Hill’s station said the suspect has been turned over to LAPD for processing.
The first incident happened at 7:45 a.m. in an apartment complex at 111 Marquez Pl., where the man reportedly entered the building through the front door and went into an apartment of a woman in her mid-80s. Police said the man threatened the woman with a box cutter and demanded she drive him to San Fernando Valley.
According to a neighbor, the woman drove her vehicle, possibly an Infiniti, toward Palisades Charter High School and crashed into a cement mixing truck, diving out.
“She’s traumatized,” said Lowell Cauffiel, neighbor, who spoke to the Post outside 111 Marquez Pl. around 1:30 p.m. after he just spoke to the woman. Her family was at her apartment speaking with LAPD investigators. He said the woman is “very classy” and loves to wear white.
“She really kept her cool,” Cauffiel added.
“She made a split second decision,” Capt. Thomas said of the woman during the press conference.
Thomas said the man fled the first crash and Pali High and carjacked another woman, possibly a high school employee, in a parking lot. She was not reported injured.
The suspect drove back down Sunset Boulevard and crashed his car into multiple vehicles before ditching the vehicle, a silver Toyota, on Livorno Drive. On foot, the suspect then broke into a home 16851 Sunset Blvd., which runs parallel with Livorno Drive, according to police.
The suspect, still in possession of the box cutter, took a white Lexus and drove off on Sunset Boulevard toward PCH.
Thomas said between the final carjacking and the final crash approximately 10 miles west at Malibu Canyon Road and PCH, the suspect was involved in a couple of minor hit and runs on the coastal highway as well.
Thomas noted police are not sure if the man is a suspect in any prior crimes or whether the man was intoxicated during the time of the crimes.
Malibu Canyon Road at PCH was closed for a period of time Monday morning as LASD conducted its investigation.
Details of Monday’s incidents have changed several times since the original report.
The Post will update more information as it becomes available.
UPDATE 11:04 a.m.
LAPD reports the incident began as a home invasion robbery.
Original:
Los Angeles County sheriffs arrested a man Monday morning after he carjacked and crashed two vehicles from Pacific Palisades. One of the carjacking victims purposely crashed her car to thwart the suspect’s demands.
No serious injuries to Palisadians were initially reported, although two people were airlifted to the hospital when the suspect finally crashed in Malibu.
Sgt. Justin Scott of the Los Angeles Police Department West Los Angeles Division told the Post at 10 a.m. the incident started from the carjacking of an elderly woman in Pacific Palisades. The driver demanded she take him to San Fernando Valley.
The location of the first incident is not clear, according to Scott.
“The lady purposely crashed her car near Pali High,” Scott said.
At that point, the man carjacked another vehicle, this time driven by a teenager.
Scott said the carjacker drove off and got into “multiple traffic collisions,” with the final crash ending on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Sheriffs took the man into custody.
Scott could not provide whether the suspect entered PCH from Temescal Canyon Road or Sunset Boulevard.
The incident remains under investigation.
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