Feb 10, 2009 4:23 pm US/Pacific
Cops I.D. Man Who Killed Self After 5-Hour Chase
LOS ANGELES
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An hours-long chase and standoff between Los Angeles police and an assault suspect driving a white Bentley has ended with the suspect being removed from the scene early Tuesday in an ambulance.
CBS
Police Tuesday identified the man who led them on a chase for more than five hours -- in a luxury $125,000 Bentley -- before turning a gun on himself.
The man, wanted for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend with a deadly weapon, was identified as 27-year-old Mustafa Mustafa.
After the chade, the suspect sat in his car and kept police at bay in North Hollywood. He allegedly threatened to harm them, or himself, several times.
Surrounded by armed SWAT officers, Mustafa shot himself in the head.
He died hours later, according to Norma Eisenman, of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Department.
Mustafa died early Tuesday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Sgt. Ernest Fisher said.
The low-speed pursuit covered several Southern California freeways Monday night before the man came to a stop on a street near Universal Studios very close to where the chase began.
About 90 minutes later, television news video showed three large armored vehicles surround the car and SWAT team members approach it with guns drawn. They broke the white sedan's passenger window and opened the door, but the man had already shot himself.
"He was distraught over financial stuff," Lt. Greg Doyle told a local news station.
The chase began shortly before 8 p.m. Monday night, Los Angeles police Officer Karen Smith said.
Driving less than 40 mph, Mustafa began leading officers southbound on U.S. 101 through Hollywood, and kept heading south on different freeways nearly to the coast, then headed back north before stopping on Lankershim Boulevard near a well-lit Toyota dealership. An unidentified dark-haired woman approached the car and appeared to attempt to talk to someone in the Bentley.
As police waved her away, the trunk popped open, and police cars quickly lined up behind it; officers then trained their weapons on the car from behind the open doors of more than a dozen squad cars.
News helicopters hovered over the scene, and authorities kept back a crowd of photographers and gawkers.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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SLIDESHOW: Bentley Leads Police On 5-Hour Chase
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