Police Chase Triggers Sherman Oaks Galleria Lockdown

LOS ANGELES, CA — A suspect who led police on a high-speed chase that crisscrossed the San Fernando Valley Friday morning managed to escape using the crowded Sherman Oaks Galleria to elude pursuers. But hours later, detectives tracked him down at another location and arrested him.

The chase briefly put the mall on lockdown Friday morning.

The suspect was wanted for a felony, possibly connected to a burglary investigation, and was being tracked by undercover officers, according to police and broadcast reports.

The chase began just after 9:30 a.m. Friday in the area of Glenoaks Boulevard and Cabrini Drive, said Officer Jeff Lee, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Officers, who had been surveilling the suspect attempted a felony stop.

"They tried to pull the vehicle over," said Lee. "He failed to yield, and the pursuit was on."

The suspect led police in a wild pattern across the Valley from Studio City to Northridge and back to Sherman Oaks. Officers in patrol vehicles, monitored by a police helicopter crew, followed the suspect on the northbound Golden State (5) Freeway, and then on the southbound 5 Freeway, surface streets in the Granada Hills, Northridge and Encino areas, and the Ventura (101) Freeway in the Sherman Oaks area.

The suspect reached speeds of up to 120 miles per hour during the chase, prompting officers to fall back and rely on air units, KTLA reported.

He was last seen headed into the parking structure at the Sherman Oaks Galleria at the 15000 block of Ventura Boulevard. A perimeter was set up, and the mall was briefly closed, but the suspect managed to escape area before police tracked him down again.

City News Service contributed to this report.