NASCAR driver Bobby East was stabbed to death during a confrontation with a drifter at a California gas station—and police reportedly killed the suspect in a SWAT raid.
The former U.S. Auto Club champion was found on the ground with a chest wound on Wednesday evening at the 76 filling station in Westminster, and police and paramedics were unable to save his life.
At that time, police identified the suspect as Trent William Millsap, 27, a transient, and said he had an outstanding parole warrant and “should be considered armed and dangerous.”
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They released numerous pictures of Millsap, who was covered in tattoos, including on his face that read: “Death is Certain, Life is Not.”
Two days later, a SWAT team raided an apartment in Anaheim looking for Millsap. A police press release said there was an “officer-involved shooting” in which a K-9 dog was wounded.
Police did not say whether Millsap was killed in the raid, but the Orange County district attorney later confirmed that he was.
His sister wrote on Facebook that the coroner’s office confirmed that to her, as well.
“It’s with a heavy heart I make this post, my Brother passed away last night, it hasn’t hit me yet that he is gone. Please send your thoughts as we prepare for this hard journey. I love you so much Bro,” she wrote in a post.
Police reports initially said the victim of the gas station shooting might be an unidentified transient, as well, but the U.S. Auto Club later reported that it was East, 37.
The son of a prominent race-car builder, he began racing professionally at age 16 and won the U.S. Auto Club National Championship three times. His last major race was in 2014.
