A standoff in San Jose has ended with authorities killing a gunman they say hijacked a UPS truck with the driver inside.The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office says the chase began Thursday in South San Jose after the box truck was hijacked. The office says the gunman shot at pursuers.The truck crossed town and stopped on First Street after a spike strip blew one tire while more than two dozen police cars blocked it in from behind.After a standoff, a woman deputies initially described as a suspect left the truck and was taken into custody. The UPS driver was freed shortly before 7 p.m.The gunman was shot a short time later after he ran out of the truck, apparently holding a shotgun. A standoff in San Jose has ended with authorities killing a gunman they say hijacked a UPS truck with the driver inside. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office says the chase began Thursday in South San Jose after the box truck was hijacked. The office says the gunman shot at pursuers. Advertisement The truck crossed town and stopped on First Street after a spike strip blew one tire while more than two dozen police cars blocked it in from behind. After a standoff, a woman deputies initially described as a suspect left the truck and was taken into custody. The UPS driver was freed shortly before 7 p.m. The gunman was shot a short time later after he ran out of the truck, apparently holding a shotgun.<doc-sep>Click here if you are having trouble viewing the photo gallery or video on your mobile device. SAN JOSE — A UPS driver abducted during a carjacking on Thursday is being lauded for having nerves of steel. The armed carjackers seized his delivery truck and forced him to drive it, with law enforcement officers in pursuit. But he drove slowly so that the police could keep up and then, in an attempt to derail his captors’ escape, purposely hit the metal spikes officers had placed on the road. “When you are accosted, taken at gunpoint, and made to drive, like something that comes out in the movies, you can’t train for the calmness that man had,” San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said. Police say the UPS driver was caught in the middle of a violent sequence that began with a chance encounter at a South San Jose transit station and ended with the fatal shooting of a suspect by police Thursday night. Sources identified the man who was killed as Mark Morasky of Saratoga. Morasky, in his early-to-mid 30s — police have not disclosed his name or age — was on parole after serving four years in prison for a 2012 carjacking and two robberies in San Jose and Saratoga, court records show. Garcia said Morasky and Joanna Mae Macy-Rogers, 23, were inside a black SUV, parked illegally at the Valley Transportation Authority light-rail station at Pearl and Chynoweth avenues around 5 p.m. Thursday. The SUV attracted the attention of plainclothes deputies with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office provides transit police for VTA. As the deputies approached the vehicle to issue a ticket, the car’s occupants spotted them and drove away. A few minutes later, when the deputies caught up to the SUV, Macy-Rogers fired at them with a shotgun, Garcia said. The car entered Highway 87 and Macy-Rogers allegedly fired multiple times at law enforcement officers who were in pursuit, which now included San Jose Police Department officers and a police helicopter. “Several rounds struck the sheriff’s vehicle,” Garcia said. “Deputies were not injured and did not return fire.” At some point, the fleeing SUV drove the wrong way on the freeway before exiting at Curtner Avenue, toward Communications Hill, Garcia said. The suspects abandoned their vehicle, saw the UPS truck and threatened the driver with the shotgun, then forced him to drive them in his truck. Around 6 p.m. Thursday, the truck made it to North First Street and Trimble Road where dozens of police cars immediately surrounded it. Soon after, the UPS worker was released, and Macy-Rogers also left the truck and surrendered to police. At one point, friends of Morasky went to the scene and told police that they were in contact with the suspect by phone. Referring to the “three strikes” law that mandated life imprisonment for multiple felony offenders, the friends told reporters that Morasky was a “two-striker” who wanted to surrender. Garcia said police did have brief phone contact with Morasky, but did not comment on whether he signaled any intention to give up. “He had every opportunity to give up peacefully, and he chose not to,” Garcia said. Just before 7 p.m., Morasky started the truck and drove it a few feet. As police maneuvered two armored vehicles into the truck’s path, he jumped out of the truck, carrying the shotgun, and tried to flee. Then, in a scene partially captured by television cameras, Garcia said a San Jose police officer fired a single shot that hit and killed the suspect as he ran “toward officers and civilians.” Matthew O’Connor, a spokesman for UPS, declined to identify the driver or comment on his actions, but said the company was providing support for him and for other employees who work with him. “We’re giving our driver some privacy after yesterday’s incident, and we’re offering grief counseling to the driver and our other employees in the area,” he said. Related Articles One suspect dead, one in custody after chase, standoff in San Jose The officer who opened fire, described as a 12-year veteran with the SJPD, was placed on paid administrative leave. As is the case with every officer-involved shooting in the county, an investigation was launched by the police department in conjunction with the District Attorney’s Office, with the DA’s office expected to issue a report in six to eight months. Macy-Rogers was booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, carjacking, kidnapping and shooting at an occupied vehicle. Besides driving into the police-laid spike strips, Garcia said the UPS driver apparently convinced his abductors that the delivery truck was equipped with a device that prevented it from going over 50 mph. “The things this guy did, it’s pretty amazing stuff,” he said. “He definitely saved lives, including his own.” Staff writers Nico Savidge, Mark Gomez, George Avalos, and George Kelly contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
A gunman took a UPS driver hostage inside his truck, led police and sheriff’s deputies on a chase across San Jose, shot at officers and then engaged in a standoff Thursday night that ended with the safe release of the driver and the gunman getting fatally shot by a law enforcement officer. The pursuit began around 5 p.m. when deputies with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office tried to pull over a black GMC near the Ohlone/Chynoweth Light Rail Station in San Jose, but when one deputy approached the vehicle — later determined to be stolen — a man and woman inside the car drove away from the scene, said Sgt. Reginald Cooks, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. The pair led deputies to Curtner Avenue and Communications Hill Boulevard, where they ditched the SUV and fled on foot, Cooks said. At some point thereafter, the pair came across a UPS truck with the driver still inside — and they carjacked the vehicle and held the driver hostage. While deputies continued pursuing the pair in the truck, one of the suspects opened fire on officers with a shotgun. Sheriff’s deputies did not return fire, Cooks said. No one was injured by the gunfire, but he said at least one of the shots hit a deputy’s patrol car. Deputies deployed spike strips near Highway 87 and Taylor Street, but the truck continued on its rims after the tires blew out, Cooks said. The UPS truck finally came to a stop on North First Street near Trimble Road, where a standoff ensued. At one point, the woman emerged from the UPS truck and surrendered to police. At another point, the hostage was allowed to go free. Dozens of San Jose police cruisers, Santa Clara County sheriff’s cars and California Highway Patrol officers pulled up behind the truck as negotiators tried to make contact with the gunman. NBC Bay Area was broadcasting live when the gunman ran from the UPS truck and was shot by a law enforcement officer. The gunman could be seen collapsing onto the pavement. Cooks said the Sheriff’s Office does not know who fired the single shot. It was immediately unclear if the gunman was holding the shotgun when he was shot, Cooks said. Cooks said that, in general, “anytime that we discharge a weapon it is not taken lightly,” and that law enforcement’s role was to ensure the safety of the public. Officials said the suspect — whose identity has not been released pending family notification — shot at deputies during the pursuit. The woman will likely face a “host of charges” for her involvement in the carjacking and hostage incident, Cooks said. She was not immediately identified by police. “UPS is grateful that our driver was released and we’re thankful to local police who responded to the situation,” said UPS officials in a statement to The Chronicle. “We are assisting local authorities as we can.” Chronicle staff writer Tatiana Sanchez contributed to this report. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor