Police pursued an armed carjacking suspect after a confrontation in Newport Beach on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The suspect has since been detained and identified as 26-year-old Alfredo M. Hopgood-Otero of Costa Mesa.
Police received the initial report of the incident on Oct. 4 near Fashion Island at approximately 3:30 p.m. Witnesses told CBSLA that the suspect threw a woman out of the car and crashed into a nearby office. Hopgood-Otero then abandoned the first car after it broke down and ran to a nearby parking lot to steal a different car.
Hopgood-Otero forced the driver of a black Jeep Grand Cherokee to flee the car at gunpoint and drove towards the Dover Shores community in Newport Beach. Police proceeded to chase him down. Hopgood-Otero subsequently pulled over on Santiago Drive in Newport Beach, abandoned the car and ran away on foot.
An anonymous resident of the Dover Shores encountered Hopgood-Otero while he was fleeing into the neighborhood. The resident described his encounter with Hopgood-Otero in an interview with CBSLA.
“He says, ‘Where’s your keys, m-fer?’,” said the resident who was held at gunpoint by Hopgood-Otero. “He look [sic] at me and there was a pause, and it was at that moment that I thought, ‘Huh, is this it?’”
The suspect then barricaded himself in an unoccupied home.
According to the LA Times, police formed a barricade around the home. The Newport Beach SWAT team, several K-9 teams and helicopters from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Anaheim Police Department were called to monitor the situation.
The suspect surrendered and was taken into custody without further incident at approximately 8:50 p.m. No injuries were reported following the incident and Hopgood-Otero was detained in Newport Beach Jail.
Police identified Hopgood-Otero and charged him with “two counts of carjacking, five counts of assault with a firearm, and one count each for attempted carjacking, burglary, possession of a firearm by a felon, leading police on a chase and a prohibited person owning ammunition” on Oct. 6, as reported by CBSLA.
Hopgood-Otero had been out on bail when he was arrested on Tuesday. This, along with his use of a personal firearm, adds sentencing enhancements to his list of felonies.
According to My News LA, Hopgood-Otero previously served jail time in 2018 when he pleaded guilty to robbery with a sentencing enhancement and “misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of drugs, possession of a controlled substance and destroying or concealing evidence.”
Hopgood-Otero pleaded not guilty to all charges on Oct. 6. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Scarlett Roberts is a City News Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at sorobert@uci.edu.
