Two innocent men were killed Tuesday night when police pursued a stolen vehicle in a north Los Angeles neighborhood.
The men, now identified by friends and family, were driving back after picking up tacos just down the street from where they live when their Honda Civic was attacked.
The victims, Christopher Teagardin, 47, and Timothy Schultz, 49, both died after a stolen truck driven by Oscar Delacruz, 32, struck them at high speed while dodging police.
Delacruz also collided with a silver sedan before coming to a stop near the intersection of Lanark Street and Woodman Avenue in LA’s Panorama City neighborhood.
The man was arrested and is expected to face murder charges, police said. He is currently being held without bail.
These are the two vehicles following the horrific crash that occurred Tuesday night in the northern Panorama City neighborhood of Los Angeles
The incident began with a stolen vehicle being reported Tuesday night.
The Los Angeles Police Department first received a call shortly after 7:30 p.m. about a stolen truck at the 10600 block of El Dorado Avenue.
“At the time the suspect was fleeing officers as the Air Force unit got over him, that suspect collided with a vehicle traveling north on Woodman Avenue and tragically the two people who were in that vehicle are as a result of this traffic collision with the suspect died,” said Los Angeles Deputy Police Commissioner Alan Hamilton.
Delacruz drove just over four miles through northeast Los Angeles before crashing into the car in which the two men were being held around 8 p.m.
The man had two occupants in the vehicle who were taken to the hospital. Her condition is currently unknown.
Authorities told ABC7 that officers believed one of the men in the pickup truck may have suffered from an overdose. The third person was a woman.
Aerial footage of the crash captured by local media shows a horrifying scene.
Both the Civic and the stolen pickup appear almost completely smashed.
This is the limousine the two men were in just before the accident
The black pickup truck the suspect was driving was also badly smashed in the accident
The crash was so violent that both Teagardin and Schultz were pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.
Every man leaves behind a teenager, according to family members who spoke to Fox 11 Los Angeles.
Teagardin has a son who just turned 18.
Schultz leaves behind a 16-year-old daughter.
The two were lifelong friends and had known each other for more than 30 years.
Chris Teagardin (right) was one of the two men who died in Tuesday night’s crash
“Nobody could match your energy,” one of Teagardin’s Facebook friends said in a tribute
Local media captured the moments when first responders carried away a person involved
Friends said the victims who died were Schultz and Teagardin, who had known each other for well over 30 years.
“They were just amazing,” said Stacy Spears, a friend said.
Spears described the deaths as “devastating” and “pointless, pointless, pointless.”
‘RIP my friend… no one could match your energy!’ a friend wrote in a tribute post on Facebook on Wednesday morning.
“Just a reminder, live life like there’s no tomorrow, there are no guarantees!” This one hurts RIP Chris Teagardin,” another friend wrote, sharing a picture of the man.
According to the KTLA, one of the men was pronounced dead immediately, while the passenger later died from his injuries.
It is unclear at this point whether it was Teagardin or Schultz who drove the limousine.
“Just a reminder to live life like there’s no tomorrow, there are no guarantees,” said a friend who recalled Teagardin in a Facebook post
This is the north Los Angeles intersection where the devastating accident happened
A witness told local media they heard the accident and then saw the driver of the stolen pickup trying to flee the scene after the collision
“This is a very tragic incident,” said Los Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Alan Hamilton
“I heard a big bang and ran over to see if I could help people,” a witness told AB7 of the crash. “It looks like it was already too late and I saw the gentleman get out of the Tacoma and run in that direction.”
After the collision, Delacruz and another passenger allegedly attempted to flee the scene on foot.
Foothill Division officers were able to track and stop him after using a stun gun, police said.
“This is a very tragic incident,” Hamilton said. “Unfortunately, we are trying to follow these incidents as securely as possible with all the means at our disposal.”
The police officer said they worked quickly to try to avoid the fatal end.
“That’s why we’re calling in an air unit immediately. So we’re going into tracking mode as soon as we can, but at the same time we have to balance that with a community member who has asked the police to respond because their vehicle is being stolen,” Hamilton said.