Robin Kindle says her boyfriend, 28-year-old Gary Lee Gahart showed up at her mother's house in Porterville Thursday night with a shot gun, forced his was in and made her leave with him. He then drove to his cousin's house in Tulare where police showed up because Kindle's mother reported her daughter was kidnapped.
"I started screaming at them and I told them not to do it, he was sick, let me talk to him," said Kindle.
She says her boyfriend of two and a half years had been showing signs of mental illnes, which had caused many problems. Though she was scared, she does not consider the incident a kidnapping. She says despite her pleas, police acted immideatly after spotting guns in the suspects car.
"Some officer came over there and just freakin like linebacked me and knocked me to the ground," said Kindle.
The suspect had crashed his car into a carport at a Tulare apartment complex, then according to other witnesses officers shot dozens of rounds at the car. Gahart and his cousin were both still inside. Gahart was killed, the other man survived.
"Pop, pop, pop, at different times, I looked out the window and I seen the car crashed right there and the guys all bleeding," said John Celio, a resident who witnessed the shooting.
According to police the suspect did not shoot back at officers, but he was armed. "Located in the suspect's posession was two shotguns and a handgun," said Capt. Larry Brooksher, with the Tulare Police Dept.
The suspect's girlfriend says she wishes there was a protocol in place to help deal with mental health patients in cases like this. But she adds this may have been a plan Gahart had for a long time. "That if the cops, he was going to do suicide by cop," said Kindle.
The suspect's cousin who was also in the car, and was also hit by the gunfire was taken to the hospital Thursday night. CBS47 could not confirm his identitiy or condition Friday.
