The man accused of stealing a vehicle with SWAT weapons in El Cajon and leading a chase that ended at the Otay Ranch Town Center was identified as 29-year-old David Alejandro Félix, according to authorities.
The pickup owner, an unidentified off-duty El Cajon police officer, was about to leave a convenience store when he was carjacked by Felix on Wednesday evening after 9 p.m.
The officer then called the emergency number to report the theft of his vehicle, which contained tactical SWAT gear, an assault rifle, and a handgun secured under lock and key.
Around 11 p.m., the vehicle was spotted near a Jack-in-the-Box in El Cajon, but Felix managed to escape and drove about 100 miles per hour west on Interstate 8.
The sheriff sent his helicopter to follow the pickup.
The El Cajon sheriff and police participated in the highway chase. Félix 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 crashed into a fire hydrant.
The man immediately fled on foot through debris, but officers surrounded him and subdued him with a non-lethal electric weapon.
Authorities recovered the SWAT gear and charged Felix with theft of a vehicle, assault on an officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, and proposing to endanger the community for his hit-and-run drive.
