Kern County Sheriff's deputies say they received a call of a robbery in progress around 11:00 a.m. Friday at the Freeway Express Market in the 1000 block of Mettler Frontage Road. That's where witnesses say they saw two men in dark clothing enter the store. One man was armed with a handgun. Deputies say the menThey robbed the store and took an undetermined amount of cash. Customers inside the store were able to get to call deputies about a robbery in progress.
One of the witnesses say the robbers fled in a maroon or possibly a purple Honda. A short time later a purple car and another vehicle were involved a collision on Rancho and Teale Roads. That collision was reported to the California Highway Patrol. In the meantime, a deputy in the Arvin area heard about the robbery and started heading south when he came upon the traffic collision. Witnesses say the man driving the purple car fled into a grape vineyard after the collision.
Around 12:30 p.m. deputies responded to a call of shots fired in the 1600 block of Teale Road, near where the collision took place. It's there that deputies found a suspect on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. The driver of the purple car had jumped in a canal and crossed to the other side and took off his clothes except for his underwear.
The suspect had become involved in a confrontation with an elderly man on the property on Teale Road. The suspect had tried to flee the property in a pickup, that's when the elderly man's son came out of another house on the property and fired shots at the suspect. The suspect who has not been identified, was airlifted to Kern Medical Center in critical condition. The elderly homeowner was treated for cuts and bruises at KMC.
Deputies were searching for another suspect who may have run away after the collision.
