Manhunt Under Way in San Angelo

An altercation between a man and a woman near Loop 306 and Southwest at the 7-11 convenience store resulted in a call to the San Angelo Police Department who responded to the address. There were reports of shots fired. While police were responding, the suspect in a black late model Chevrolet Impala sped off with the woman and a two-year-old child as passengers. 

The suspect has been identified by police as James Baimbridge, 30, of Midland.

The woman fled the car, leaving the child behind in the car, at Southwest and Twin Mountain Rd. 

Meanwhile, police acquired the car's plates and registration from the woman and determined his residence to be on Ave. D. The police staked out the suspect's home. The suspect arrived at his home address, noticed the police, and proceeded to lead the police on an extended high speed chase through San Angelo. The chase meandered eastward and eventually down Rio Concho and across the Concho River bridge where the suspect threw his handgun out the window.

After a car chase from the river, the driver made it to the north side of Santa Rita where witnesses say the suspect then abandoned the car with the child still inside and fled on foot. This was near San Antonio and Guadalupe, just south of the Houston-Harte Expressway.

K-9s and several patrol units are actively searching the area between Houston-Harte and Pecos, and N. Bishop and Howard St.

Update 7:35 p.m.

The child was returned to the mother and is safe.

Update 7:38 p.m.

Police have confirmed that the suspect, James Baimbridge, has been apprehended at Jefferson St. near where he fled his crashed vehicle. Baimbridge is being transported to the jail and will be charged with evading arrest. Police say that additional charges will likely be added as the investigation develops, and note that there was at least one shot fired prior to the chase. 

Update 7:52 p.m.

An employee at the 7-11 that was working when the incident began says, "The lady came in, she grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper and wrote to please call the police. She wrote the note and I was just observing what was going on. He cornered her on the counter--a white male--and was whispering to her. She just broke past him and he just turned around and he was like, 'ma'am, please' (to the woman who wrote the note) and I just looked at him and he walked out. He went outside, she followed him," the employee says. 

"They went towards the car and I was just kind of watching them at the time. It looked like he was trying to kind of get her in the car, but she didn't get in, so he got in the car and he was driving away and she was walking in this direction (toward the vehicle). I stayed on the line with the police, and as she was walking, she kind of ducked behind the ice machine, so at that point I was concerned that he was pointing a weapon or something. I reported all that to the police and I wasn't busy at the time, so I walked out and they were gone," she said.