| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
NORWALK, Calif. (AP) Two brothers pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges connected with a police pursuit in which another man was killed after pointing a gun at officers.
Richard Rafael Gutierrez, 23, pleaded guilty to felony evading, robbery, assault with a firearm and shooting at an occupied vehicle. His brother, John Joseph Gutierrez, 19, pleaded guilty to robbery, assault with a firearm and personal use of a firearm.
The incident began about 5:30 p.m. on July 2, 2002, when two men armed with handguns held up a public storage facility in South Gate and fled into a waiting sport utility vehicle.
A witness to the holdup followed the car, but pulled back when he was shot at. He later flagged down a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, who continued the pursuit.
The car stopped about an hour later on Interstate 5, after a tire disintegrated and the vehicle caught fire. The suspects got out and one of them, 18-year-old Michael Bilderrain, pointed a gun at police. Officers opened fire and fatally struck him, said Jane Robison of the district attorney's office. Bilderrain later was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The car fire and shooting prompted officials to close the freeway in both directions.