Police in Seattle released dash-cam videos showing a carjacker speeding the wrong way up a one-way street, firing at a police car and finally spinning out his stolen, wrecked Camaro in a cloud of smoke as officers shot and killed him.
No bystanders or police suffered significant injuries in the car chase on Sunday afternoon, which began when workers at a Pike Place Market coffee shop called 911 to report there was a man with a gun inside.
Officials identified the suspect on Tuesday as Raymond Azevedo, who had done four stints in state prison since 1998 for crimes including unlawful possession of a firearm, malicious mischief, attempting to elude a pursing police vehicle and assault.
He was most recently released in October 2014 and was subject to a community supervision until last month.
Police said Azevedo ran in and out of several businesses, brandishing guns at staff, before fleeing out the back of a tattoo shop and stealing a Volkswagen at gunpoint.
He drove to the University of Washington Athletic Centre, where he stole a minivan at gunpoint and then stopped at a rental car lot and forced two employees to give him a Chevy Camaro.
The suspect sped the wrong way up a one-way street in the University District, and then a pursuing officer rear-ended him when he stopped for cross traffic on a major street.
The jarring crash disabled the cruiser, and the officer got out and ran after the Camaro as it cut through a parking lot.
As police continued chasing him through North Seattle at 70 miles per hour, he started firing back at them.
The chase ended as Azevedo tried to drive around a barricade of police vehicles and an officer ploughed into him head-on, with another cruiser ramming the Camaro quickly afterward.
Officers took cover behind their vehicles and opened fire as the Camaro started moving again, spinning out in a cloud of smoke before finally coming to a halt.
Azevedo was found to have two guns with him, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was tracing the weapons, police said.
A dozen officers involved were put on routine administrative leave pending a review of the shooting - so many that the department said commanders had to develop a staffing plan to ensure 911 response and neighbourhood patrols were not compromised.