COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio -- Three people are in custody and a fourth remains at large after a gun store robbery resulted in a chase that ended in a crash in Lorain County early Monday.
It started around 5 a.m. at Silverado Arms, a gun store in the 7000 block of Center Street in Mentor. When police arrived, they encountered a male fleeing the storefront southbound toward an alley leading to the rear of the building.
At the same time, a vehicle appeared from behind the building and drove at the officers, refusing to stop. Two officers fired four collective shots at the vehicle, causing the driver to bail from the car and flee on foot. He later returned to the scene to turn himself in. Police say he is a 15-year-old Cleveland resident.
Meanwhile, a passenger inside the car moved to the driver's seat and drove the car northbound from the parking lot.
Officers followed the car eastbound on state Route 2. After traveling a short distance, the vehicle left the right side of the road and continued down an embankment, through a right-of-way fence, and came to a stop in a parking lot on Tyler Boulevard.
One of the car's occupants stole a vehicle from the Center For Dialysis Care parking lot across the street and the chase continued westbound into Lorain County.
Crystal Thomas said she was thrown from her car before the suspect threw her oxygen tank at her and stole her car. She says she had seen the suspect approaching in her mirror, but couldn't reach her mace in time.
"I tried to grab it but he had my door open and he had his hands on the back of my neck, shoving me out the door. He told me, 'Don't f--king look at me, don't f--king speak to me, just get the f--- out the car,'" Thomas said.
Thomas was thrown into the bushes with her oxygen tank still attached to her neck. She was fearful she would be dragged, but the suspect threw the tank at her before taking off in her car.
The pursuit ended when the stolen vehicle collided head-on with another car on Root Road near Osborne Road in Columbia Station. The driver of the stolen vehicle was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland with undisclosed injuries.
"He only had a half a tank so he didn't get very far," Thomas added.
Mentor police also located a third suspect, who was found walking in the area of Tyler Boulevard and Hopkins Road. Officers took the male into custody after determining he was involved in the store break-in and had suffered a head injury. He was taken to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights.
Police say a fourth suspect remains at large. A surveillance image of the suspect was released on Monday:
Authorities remained at the scene of the crash in Columbia Station late Monday morning:
A Silverado Arms store manager tells WKYC nothing was stolen from the store.