Deadly DTLA police pursuit: 2 killed when minivan fleeing cops crashes into Metro bus

LOS ANGELES - Two people were killed and two others were injured when a minivan attempting to evade a police pursuit crashed into a Metro bus Sunday near downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.

At around 5 a.m., patrolling officers spotted someone throw a gun from a green minivan in the area of the 110 Freeway and Central Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Officers tried to pull the minivan over, which prompted a pursuit that lasted for about one to two minutes, ending when the minivan crashed into a Metro bus in the area of Main and 17th streets, police said.

Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched at 5:11 a.m. to the 100 block of East 17th Street, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported.

One person, was pronounced dead at the scene. Three people were taken to the hospital, one of whom later died. The LA County Medical Examiner's office identified the man pronounced dead at the scene as Baltazar Rayon, 28. Officials said Rayon and the other person who died were both passengers in the back of the car. 

The van's driver and another passenger were brought to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Metro bus operator, the lone person aboard the vehicle, declined treatment or ambulance transportation, according to fire department officials.