A Santa Rosa man who broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and held her at gunpoint before she fought her way free late Thursday night took his own life after a wild chase and a slow-speed law enforcement pursuit on the outskirts of Windsor and Forestville, police said.
Jordan Hector, 34, shot himself in his disabled pickup early Friday morning after Sonoma County sheriff's deputies flattened his tires with a spike strip, Santa Rosa police said.
His death ended a 2-hour manhunt resulting from a domestic disturbance reported shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday at the Vintage Ridge Apartments on Range Avenue, across from State Farm Drive.
Hector had gone to the apartment to which he'd recently moved with his ex-girlfriend, and, when she refused to let him in, smashed through a sliding glass door, armed with a handgun, and confronted her, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Dave Linscomb said.
He held the gun to her head, firing it at one point and injuring her face and neck from the impact of the weapon, Linscomb said.
She was not actually struck by gunfire. The ammunition fired from the gun penetrated a blind and the other half of the sliding glass door, Linscomb said.
The 34-year-old woman was able to push him away and ran out the door to a neighbor's home, where she called police.
Neighbors in the building of four units where she lived reported being awakened by police and ordered to evacuate because the suspect's whereabouts were unknown.
Linda Brown and her adult daughter, Katey, said they came outside and found about a dozen police officers with guns trained on the neighboring unit and ordered them to leave the area for their safety.
Clark Rector, who lives upstairs from the victim with his wife and newborn, said they slept through the gunfire but were shocked awake by police, some of whom came inside to check for bullet holes in his apartment while others escorted his family outside.
He said the suspect had moved to the apartments with the victim barely two weeks earlier and had seemed evasive and uncommunicative, emitting a "weird vibe," in the two encounters they had with him. On one occasion they met him on the sidewalk and he awkwardly stepped out of their way, nearly walking into the trees to avoid them and averting his eyes.
A few days ago, after a night of banging and noise from the downstairs apartment, the victim came to them and apologized for the uproar, saying the couple had had a fight. Later, she came looking for a small dog that has since disappeared.
On Thursday, Hector retreated to his Toyota Tacoma after his ex-girlfriend escaped. He was there when he apparently saw some other neighbors driving out of the complex and, perhaps believing the victim was in the car with them, followed them, chasing them erratically as they headed north toward Windsor, sometimes pulling alongside them on Highway 101, police said.
The driver, unaware of what had transpired at the apartment minutes earlier, was frightened by the high-speed pursuit and tried to get away, police said.
At Shiloh Road, the suspect finally turned away from them, he said.
But a bulletin with his description broadcast by police allowed sheriff's deputies in the Windsor area to identify him when they spotted his truck on Conde Lane near Mitchell Lane in Windsor, Linscomb said.
When the deputies attempted to pull him over, the suspect refused to stop, and led them on a slow chase through town toward Eastside Road and then south toward Forestville.
The deputies finally deployed a spike strip that flattened the suspect's tires, essentially disabling his vehicle.
Hector's truck came to a stop and he ended his life before deputies could walk to the truck, Linscomb said.
River Road was closed between Trenton-Healdsburg and Wohler roads from about 2 a.m. until shortly after noon on Friday so police could investigate the scene.
The name of the victim was not being released because she is the victim of domestic violence, Linscomb said.
Reached at her apartment Friday, she declined comment.
(You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.)
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