A police chase in the suburbs east of Los Angeles came to a shocking end this week, the authorities said, when the driver of a car stopped by sheriff’s deputies got out of his vehicle and shot a man stuffed into the trunk.
The apparent execution happened late Wednesday in front of sheriff’s deputies, who then opened fire on the driver. Both the driver and the man in the trunk were killed.
The abducted man was identified by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Friday as Shukur Aikebaer, 60. The driver was Zhengfeng Bo, 67, of Irvine, Calif., and had a prior working relationship with Mr. Aikebaer, the agency said.
A third man, Jianquan Bo, 66, was also in the car and is being held on murder and kidnapping charges, the department said. It did not make the Bos’ relationship clear, but said they lived together in an Irvine residence searched by investigators.
The incident stunned the city of Chino Hills, an upper-middle class community roughly 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and left a string of questions about the motive for the abduction, which began with a report of gunshots and a person screaming at a home on Monteverde Drive about 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
Mr. Aikebaer, a member of a small and tight-knit Uyghur community, lived at the two-story home with his wife and three daughters, according to Adam Nijiati, 40, a software engineer who is a friend of the family. He was at the home on Thursday as Mr. Aikebaer’s loved ones struggled for answers.
“He is very modest, like the kindest guy you could ever meet in your lifetime,” Mr. Nijiati said, adding, “He’s not that rich to be honest. I don’t know why would somebody just try to kidnap him.”
Mr. Aikebaer immigrated to the United States from China, where Uyghurs have been subjected to persecution, about 15 to 20 years ago, Mr. Nijiati said. He worked in several businesses over time to support his family, his friend said, including flipping houses and opening a fast-food restaurant in San Diego.
“It is just unbelievable,” Mr. Nijiati said of the abduction and killing.
Neighbors said power had gone out at the Aikebaer home before the abduction, but not throughout the neighborhood. Mr. Nijiati said Mr. Aikebaer had gone outside to check on the electricity, and that’s when his 13-year-old daughter heard shots fired, and a scream.
The sheriff’s department said it was investigating the source of the power outage.
While responding to the 911 call late Wednesday, deputies encountered a speeding vehicle and tried to pull it over. The driver led them on a short pursuit through a residential area before stopping in front of homes on Wandering Ridge Drive, about a mile away.
The man in the passenger seat got out and surrendered to the deputies. But the driver exited, opened the trunk and then fired a shot into it before he was killed by a deputy, the department said.
“All of a sudden we started hearing gunshots going on,” said Debbie Maki, 64, who lives on the street where the chase ended. She and her husband were drawn out of their house and onto their porch by the police sirens, then retreated back inside when the shooting started.
Home surveillance footage obtained by KTLA, a local TV news outlet, appears to show the driver striding to the back of the sedan, where he opens the trunk with his back facing the deputies, and slightly leans into the car.
The video blurs the exact moment of the shooting. But seconds later, it shows the smoke from the deputies discharging their weapons. It wasn’t until after shooting the driver that the authorities learned there was a man inside the trunk, the sheriff’s department said.
In audio recorded by a camera at Ms. Maki’s home, deputies can be heard shouting commands, including through a loudspeaker, before several shots ring out. Ms. Maki’s camera was not pointed in a direction to capture video of the shootings.
The grisly episode was especially out of place for a community like Chino Hills, where mansions, two-story stucco homes and shopping centers are nestled in green rolling hills near the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.
“It’s a little nerve racking,” Ms. Maki said.
The city contracts for police services from the county sheriff’s department, which has a station in the community.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
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