Kidnapper Arrested After Police Chase, Gunfire: Santa Monica PD

SANTA MONICA, CA — A felon is behind bars after leading police on a chase in connection to his kidnapping of an ex-girlfriend, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.

The incident began on Sunday at around midnight when the man — 32-year-old Jorge Luis Vega of Los Angeles — approached the victim in the parking lot of the Vons at Wilshire Boulevard and 14th Street, according to police.

Vega threatened a witness who attempted to intervene before he drove away from the area with the victim in the car he was driving, police said.

Vega and the woman "had been in a dating relationship," police said.

Later that day, the woman was located 90 miles away in Beaumont. She was not with Vega at the time. Police did not indicate how she got there.

On Monday at around 3:15 a.m., police located Vega in Los Angeles. He fled in a vehicle, prompting a police pursuit that ended in the Vermont Knolls area of South Los Angeles, according to police.

At some point, police opened fire. No one was injured, according to police.

Vega was arrested at the scene on suspicion of kidnapping, making criminal threats, brandishing a firearm, rape and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to police.