(November 1, 2002) -- A robbery suspect -- a 19 year old LB resident on parole -- appears to have shot himself as LBPD officers closed in on the car in which he was riding after a robbery in uptown Bixby Knolls.

In a written release, LBPD says that on October 31 at approximately 1:26 a.m. it received a call concerning a robbery at a convenience store in the 4200 block of LB Blvd. (near San Antonio Dr.) in the 8th Council district.

In the area of 52d St. and Falcon Ave., officers spotted the suspect vehicle, approached and found one female and two male suspects inside, police say.

"Officers saw that one of the suspects had a gun and backed away. One of the male suspects and the female immediately surrendered to officers; however, the armed suspect in the back seat refused to exit the vehicle or communicate with officers," the LBPD release says.

LBPD's SWAT team was summoned along with SWAT negotiators but their efforts to communicate with the suspect failed, police say.

"SWAT officers approached and entered the vehicle, finding the suspect deceased from one gunshot wound to the head. The preliminary investigation has revealed that the deceased suspect...died form a self-inflicted gunshot wound," the release says.

Police identified the deceased suspect as 19 year old Ricky Wyatt, Jr., a LB resident who was on parole.

The other suspect was identified as a 21 year old Rodney Deon Hill, also a LB resident, who's now in the LB city jail without bail and facing robbery charges.

Police say they found evidence in the vehicle "directly linking these suspects to the earlier robbery [and] investigators are looking into the possibility that these suspects may be responsible for other robberies."

The female subject was questioned and released.

LBPD asks anyone with information about this incident to call Robbery Detective John Mercado at (562) 570-7464.