A man shot and killed himself after being pursued by police for suspected domestic violence Sunday morning in south San Diego, authorities said.
Police said they were called around 7:40 a.m. and told that a woman had been forced at gunpoint by her ex-boyfriend to leave with him from an apartment complex on Oro Vista Road in Nestor. Her three children, ages 7 to 15, witnessed the man forcing her into her vehicle and called the police after they left the residence, police said.
The man forced her to drive away from her home and allegedly repeatedly threatened to rape and kill her and threatened to kill himself, according to police. At one point, police said, the couple stopped and became involved in a verbal altercation, and the man allegedly grabbed her by the neck and strangled her.
When the man threatened to rape her again, she attempted to “delay his actions and buy time for herself” and suggested they go to a hotel instead, and told him she needed to return home to get money, police said.
When she drove back to her home, officers who had responded to the 911 call were on the scene.
The man ordered her to drive away. Officers who had spotted the car began to follow her and tried to pull the car over as it headed south on Oro Vista near Tocayo Avenue.
“The pursuit ultimately ended with the use of a spike strip,” a police spokesperson said in an email. “As the car came to a stop, she began to exit from the vehicle and flee when he simultaneously shot himself in the head, ending his life.”
Police said the man who killed himself was 33. His name was not released.
For the record: An earlier version of this story indicated the man had threatened the victim's mother with a gun. In fact, the call to police was made by the victim's children.
