Authorities in Colorado believe a high-speed shooting chase in Texas could be connected to the shooting death of Colorado's prison chief, Tom Clements. The chase barreled through north Texas yesterday, ending in a crash about 700 miles away from the site of Clements' death on Tuesday.
Around 11 AM local time yesterday, the driver of a Cadillac shot at a law enforcement officer who had pulled him over at a traffic stop. The deputy was wearing a bulletproof vest, but one of the two bullets shot grazed his head and he remains in serious condition. A high-speed chase ensued, ending 30 miles away in Decatur, Texas, with the driver shooting at officers from the window. The chase stopped when the driver slammed into an 18-wheel truck. The driver emerged and resumed shooting, although didn't make contact with any of the officers. The suspect sustained injury and died Thursday evening.
The man was identified as a 28-year-old parolee in the Denver area named Evan Ebel, believed to be connected to a gang of white supremacists. Officials are searching to see if this chase is connected to the Colorado shooting.
Also on Thursday, Colorado investigators were examining one of the thousands of prisoners in Clements' charge, a Saudi national named Homaidan al-Turki, convicted of sexually assaulting his housemaid and keeping her basically imprisoned for several years at his home. Al-Turki is a high-profile prisoner; at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the Colorado Attorney General traveled to Riyadh in 2006 to meet with King Abdullah and the al-Turki family to discuss the case. Earlier this month, Clements had denied al-Turki a request to serve the remainder of his imprisonment in Saudi Arabia. Investigators are still attempting to determine whether al-Turki's case might have some connection to Clements' death.
[CNN, image via Denver Channel News]