A SUSPECT in a burglary at a Garden Grove bicycle shop led to a freeway chase which ended with an arrest in El Monte.

A suspect who led police on a chase from Garden Grove to El Monte after he allegedly robbed a bicycle shop in West Garden Grove and was arrested before dawn on Sunday.

According to the GGPD, the incident  started at 4:10 a.m. when officers spotted a vehicle “travelling at a high rate of speed” from Papa Wheelie Bicycles at 6949 Chapman Ave. (near Knott Street).

Garden Grove police, assisted by the Seal Beach Police Department and the California Highway Patrol, went in pursuit. A 911 call was placed by the fleeing driver claiming he had a gun and was willing to shoot officers.

The car being chased by police finally stopped in the northbound lanes of the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway in Downey. Police used a “less than lethal weapon” to break out the rear windows of the suspect’s vehicle, along with a spike strip.

However, the vehicle continued on and finally became disabled in El Monte where the suspect – identified as Joe Richard Wijnaendts, 50 – surrendered and taken into custody. He was booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana. Stolen property from the shop was found inside the vehicle.