Two Killed After Carjacked Pickup Truck Crashes on Silver Strand in Coronado

Editor's note: Below is the account of Thursday's incident, as details unfolded at the scene. To read the updated account, click .

A carjacker and one of her victims were killed Thursday morning after a high-speed chase involving a stolen pickup truck and sheriff’s deputies ended with a crash on Silver Strand Boulevard, according to a sheriff’s lieutenant. Three people were injured and hospitalized after the pickup hit several other vehicles and overturned.

The female driver and male passenger in the stolen truck, a Ford F-150, both died at the scene.

A man and woman were washing and detailing the truck in the 1200 block of Georgia Street in Imperial Beach Thursday morning. At about 7:30 a.m., the carjacker approached them and demanded they turn over the pickup, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Caldwell told reporters.

“The woman that hijacked the car came up with a knife, and the other woman helping with the washing and detailing of the car ran away at some point and left,” Caldwell said. “The man working on the car was in the back seat and stayed in the back seat. And at that point, the female with the knife gets into the driver's side, and she drives away.”

Deputies in a Ford Expedition patrol car spotted the pickup at Eighth Street and Calla Avenue about 15 minutes later, according to the Sheriff's Department. They signaled for the pickup to pull over, but a high-speed chase ensued.

“The deputy following the hijacker came up alongside the vehicle and made eye contact with her,” Caldwell explained. “He believes that she deliberately sideswiped him.”

The pursuit continued into Coronado, where the pickup lost control and struck a red compact car near . The pickup flipped and caught fire. Deputies used fire extinguishers to douse the flames until engine crews arrived and took over, Caldwell said. Several other vehicles, including a PT Cruiser and a box truck, were damaged in the incident, but they may have been involved in separate collisions.

The conditions of the three people injured have not been released. They were transported to UCSD Medical Center and Hospital.

Barak Factor of San Francisco was walking his dog at the Coronado Shores apartment complex where he is staying when he heard the crash.

“All of a sudden I heard this big explosion. It was like a bomb went off. It was really, really loud,” Factor said. “And then, after the first explosion, I heard another hit. The second hit sounded like a heavy-duty car wreck.”

He says he saw the car on fire and people running into the nearby .

“I was shocked,” he said of the aftermath at the scene. “I didn't see anyone trying to get out (of the burning car).”

A pit bull was riding in the stolen truck and was thrown from the vehicle during the crash. “A couple people here saw the dog and grabbed him and gave him to one of our deputies,” Caldwell said. “It looks like he’s gonna be all right.”

“Flames, smoke, bodies, overturned cars,” said Coronado resident Joe Ditler, who drove past the wreckage at around 8 a.m. Ditler described the scene as “something out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.”

Friends of the male victim received a phone call from the woman who was with him at the time of the carjacking. They arrived at the scene around 1:30 p.m. and waited for more than three hours to speak to investigators.

Eddie Cannon, a contractor who worked with the victim at BAE Systems, said, “It’s a mess. It’s a tragedy.”

Cannon said the victim was laid off from BAE Systems in August. He last talked to the victim on Tuesday and said he was actively sending out his résumé and looking for a new job.

“He was a big, jolly guy,” Cannon added. “He will be missed.”

Donald Tubbs grew up with the victim in Mississippi and went to high school with him. Tubbs said the victim was the same age as him, 35. He also said the victim was divorced and has an 18-year-old daughter.

Tubbs fought back tears as he talked to reporters. “He was a good guy and fun to be around. He was the best-dressed guy in school,” he said. “He was my best friend, my brother.”

At 3:40 p.m., Rick Walton, owner of El Cordova Garage, received a call to come pick up the box truck that was involved in the crash. The box truck, owned by Business Products Solutions of Coronado, had been parked on Silver Strand Boulevard. Walton said the box truck slid more than 100 feet, with its parking brake on, as a result of the impact.

El Cordova towed the box truck back to C Avenue. Shortly thereafter, Walton got a call to come pick up a silver PT Cruiser that was also involved in the incident.

The investigation is ongoing at two different crime scenes—one on the Silver Strand near the Coronado Community Center and the other on the 1200 block of Georgia Avenue in Imperial Beach.

Investigators shut down the northbound side of the Silver Strand between Rendova Road and Strand Way. As of 5:30 p.m., the wreckage of the Ford F-150 and a red compact car had not been cleared by police. Traffic was jammed on southbound Orange Avenue, with a line of bumper-to-bumper cars as far back as Seventh Street.  

In the last 12 months, there have been four fatal accidents in Coronado: a DUI on the Silver Strand in April that killed 95-year-old Stevens Benjamin Friedman, the in November that killed 17-year-old , and on Feb. 23—a mere eight days ago—that killed 78-year-old Claire Dietz.   

City News Service contributed to this report.