PHOENIX (AP) - Two homicide suspects sought in Los Angeles were arrested following a chase and gunfire on Interstate 40 in rural northeastern Arizona, the state Department of Public Safety said.
No one was injured in the gunfire Friday that began when the suspects in a westbound stolen pickup shot at pursuing Arizona and New Mexico state troopers, the Arizona DPS said in a statement.
“Due to the immediate danger the suspects displayed,” additional Arizona troopers deployed ahead of the pickup and fired at it, disabling the vehicle and allowing the suspects to be taken into custody, the DPS said.
“Our state troopers should be commended for their fast thinking and bravery in stopping a lethal threat that entered into our state,” said Lt. Colonel Heston Silbert, DPS deputy director.
The incident began when the New Mexico State Police notified the Arizona DPS that New Mexico troopers were pursuing “heavily armed homicide suspects” in a vehicle headed to Arizona from New Mexico, the DPS said.
The DPS identified the suspects only as a 37-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman who “will be facing multiple felony charges in Arizona as a result of their actions.”
The Arizona DPS directed inquiries about the homicide and related stolen weapons to the Los Angeles Police Department.
An LAPD spokesman, Officer Drake Madison, said Saturday he could not immediately provide any information about the suspects or related matters.
The incident closed a 53-mile (85-kilometer) stretch of westbound I-40 between Holbrook and Petrified National Forest for most of Friday morning as authorities conducted their investigation,
The closure resulted in a 109-mile (175-kilometers) detour on secondary highways.
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