A man suspected of assaulting another man and stealing his cell phone outside an Indio sandwich shop was shot by police about an hour later and died at a hospital, authorities said Thursday.
The suspect was shot around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday near the Las Palmas Apartments at 81871 Las Palmas Road, Indio police spokesman Ben Guitron said.
“The suspect did not survive the incident,” Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Rick Espinoza said in a statement released Thursday morning. The man’s name was withheld, pending notification of his relatives. No officers were injured.
The suspect allegedly assaulted a man around 3:40 p.m. Wednesday outside a Subway sandwich shop at 82162 Highway 111, near the Las Palmas Apartments, Guitron said.
According to police, the suspect confronted the victim in the Subway parking lot and was armed with a gun. The suspect hit the victim in the head and stole his cell phone, police said.
Guitron said employees in the sandwich shop witnessed the assault and called police. It was not immediately clear how police tracked the suspect to the apartment complex.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit assumed responsibility for the investigation, Espinoza said.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3500 or (951) 955-2777.