A subject stole an unmarked vehicle with weapons from the El Cajon Police Department SWAT team and went on a chase at the Otay Ranch Town Mall, where he collided with a fire hydrant.
The sheriff's office reported the vehicle was stolen in Santee when the driver, an off-duty El Cajon police officer, parked to go to a convenience store on Mission Gorge Road and Magnolia Ave.
The vehicle was reported stolen shortly after 9 p.m. The report mentioned that there was tactical equipment, an assault rifle and a handgun in a locker in the stolen vehicle.
Around 11 p.m., the vehicle was seen next to a fast-food restaurant in El Cajon, but the driver managed to escape and drove about 100 miles per hour westbound on Interstate 8.
The sheriff and the police of El Cajon participated in the chase. The fugitive drove through El Cajon and La Mesa and then took State 125 south past Lemon Grove, then Spring Valley, and into Chula Vista, where he exited onto Birch Road.
The subject entered the Otay Ranch Town Center and drove inside the mall for a while until he lost control and hit a fire hydrant.
The man immediately fled on foot through some rubble, but the agents surrounded him and subdued him with a non-lethal electric weapon.
The man was taken to a hospital for examination.
The sheriff did not immediately provide the detainee's identity or mention the charges he would face in court.
