DES MOINES, Wash. — A man and woman were arrested in Des Moines after at least one armed carjacking on Thursday.
One police officer fired his handgun, but it does not appear that anyone was shot, according to Kent police.
The incident began when Des Moines officers found a suspected stolen vehicle. The suspects fled, despite officers using tire deflation devices.
Officers did not initially pursue the vehicle due to state law restricting when pursuits can occur, according to Kent police.
A few minutes later, the suspects attempted to carjack another vehicle at gunpoint. They were unsuccessful, got back in the original vehicle and continued to flee police - driving on rims.
Kent police officers joined Des Moines police, who were now pursuing the suspects.
The vehicle crashed.
The suspects got out of the vehicle, carjacked another vehicle at gunpoint and continued to flee.
The vehicle crashed into oncoming traffic in the area of South 224th Street and Pacific Highway South, sideswiping a taxi and multiple other vehicles.
"My taxi driver was paying attention and trying to get out of the way," said the taxi passenger, Andrew McGuire. "We didn't have very much room to do so."
"I even asked police, these people can make a lot of damage when (they're) chasing someone, but they told me he shot something, so we had to stop them," the taxi driver, Hassan Warsame said.
Warsame reunited with his daughters at the scene, who said they were grateful their father wasn't hurt.
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this world who seem to not care they're impacting others, but in this specific instance, I'm just happy everybody got out alive," Ikram Warsame said. "That's all I could ask for."
The suspects got out of that vehicle and headed toward another occupied car, police said. A Kent officer fired his handgun around 11:20 a.m.
As of Thursday afternoon, it "does not appear that the officer hit anyone," according to information from Kent police.
Officers arrested the male driver and female passenger. They did not sustain any significant injuries, according to police.
A handgun was found at the scene where the suspects were arrested.
During the pursuit, the suspects collided with another vehicle. The collision is under investigation, but it appears nobody was injured, according to police.
Though the suspects were not shot, Kent police Chief Rafael Padilla asked the Valley Independent Investigation Team to investigate.
The officer who fired their weapon is on administrative leave.
“We are incredibly fortunate that the suspects in this matter did not seriously injure or kill anyone. I am thankful that our officers were able to intervene, and the dangerous suspects are in custody.” said Chief Rafael Padilla.