[kellyhound]

Tampa, Florida. A man believed to have committed several home invasions and sexual assaults died last Friday after a chase and shootout with police.

The manhunt for Charlie Christopher Bates, 24, ended shortly after 12:30 p.m. Friday when police rammed the car he was driving, sending it off the roadway.

What followed was a gunfire between police and the suspect. When the gunfire ended, Bates was pulled from the car seriously injured.

He died at an area hospital less than an hour later.

Earlier Friday, police had identified Bates as the prime suspect in a series home invasions overnight near the University of South Florida.

He was accused of entering an apartment at about 11 p.m. Thursday, binding four male occupants with duct tape and sexually assaulting four female residents.

The women were all college students, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee and Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said at a news conference earlier in the day.

Bates then allegedly entered another apartment at gunpoint but did not harm the woman who lived there after she pleaded with the suspect not to harm her.

He then went to an apartment where about two dozen people were attending a football party.

The suspect forced all the partygoers into a bedroom at gunpoint and fired at least one shot into the carpeted floor.

Bates then left that apartment and began chasing a man who was outside, officers said. The man made it back to his apartment and closed the door.

The suspect is accused of firing at least three rounds at the man, who was not hit. At least one round struck the door.

"We could not allow him to go any further," Gee wrote on Twitter.

The hunt for Bates affected classes at 17 area schools, which put their campuses on partial lockdown.

Tampa Police said Bates also was a suspect in home invasions Aug. 9 and Tuesday. In the latter, he stole credit cards and was later caught on a surveillance camera using the cards.

On Aug. 29, Bates allegedly approached a woman while she was sitting on her screened porch, forced her into her apartment at gunpoint and ordered her to undress.

She began reciting Bible verses and prayed for the suspect. Police say his demeanor changed, he apologized and gave her a shirt to cover herself.

They prayed together, she ripped out pages from her Bible to give to Bates and he left the apartment.

But he cut himself on glass as he broke into her home and police were able to retrieve his DNA from the blood he left behind.

That DNA linked him to his most recent crime spree, police say.

[Faline]

Good riddance

[Desensitisation]

The more I watch these vids, the more I wish technology would hurry up and have remote-controlled robots mounted with guns that the cops could use to roll up to perps without having to risk their own lives and just pump them full of lead. I mean, they're too fat these days already from eating donuts. Might as well let them do their jobs sitting in chairs back at the office.