CHP arrests – A suspected double-murder in Pomona ended in neighboring Kern County after authorities spotted the suspect’s black Kia on the 5 Freeway and used spike strips and a PIT maneuver to stop him.
The chase didn’t end with a chase van pulling up neatly. It ended with tires deflating and a maneuver that forced a car off the line.
Pomona Police Department received a “shots-fired call with multiple individuals injured” at around 3:30 p.m. and two people died from their injuries. according to a California Highway Patrol news release. As officers moved in. a CHP plane flew overhead to provide support. and the agency tapped into its network of license plate readers to track the suspect’s vehicle.
About two hours later. the suspect was spotted driving northbound on the 5 Freeway in a black Kia sedan near Roxford Street. officials said. Officers attempted to stop the suspect, but he did not yield, beginning a pursuit. What followed stretched across jurisdictions: officers chased the vehicle through several counties. including Kern and Los Angeles. for over an hour and 30 minutes.
CHP says the suspect was finally caught when officers used a spike strip on his tires and stopped the vehicle using a PIT maneuver.
“A double murder suspect was swiftly taken into custody today because of our partnership with Pomona Police Department, the quick thinking of our CHP crime suppression team, our CHP airplane, the IRIS unit … ,” said CHP Southern Division Chief Chris Margaris in a statement.
The suspect was identified as 48-year-old Robert Galtman, according to ABC7. Galtman was booked Thursday night about 11:30 p.m. and is being held in lieu of $3.1 million bail, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department booking records.
The sequence—shots-fired call in Pomona. aerial support and license plate tracking. then a long pursuit across counties—closed only once officers forced the car to stop. By the time spike strips and a PIT maneuver ended the run. the case had already claimed two lives. and the next question for authorities was no longer where he was. but what comes after custody.
Pomona CHP Kern County Los Angeles County double murder suspect spike strip PIT maneuver black Kia sedan Robert Galtman Roxford Street 5 Freeway