UPDATE, Wednesday, 5:40 p.m.
CARLIN — A Department of Transportation worker was wounded and his suspected assailant died after a highway patrol chase and shootout with law enforcement officers on a remote stretch of highway in northeastern Nevada, authorities said Wednesday.
The road paving crew member was shot about 10 a.m. in a State Route 278 construction zone south of the mining town of Carlin, and a trooper chased the suspect in a white Dodge Ram cargo van south toward Eureka, Highway Patrol Sgt. Matthew McLaughlin said.
The worker was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital where McLaughlin said he was in stable condition.
Troopers and local sheriff's deputies used spike strips to disable the van about 35 miles north of Eureka, and the man inside exchanged gunfire with authorities before he was wounded and arrested about three hours later.
The man died in an ambulance on the way to Eureka, McLaughlin said.
The identities of the suspect and the wounded worker were not immediately made public.
McLaughlin said investigators don't think anyone else was with the suspected gunman in the van.
INITIAL POST
CARLIN — A state Department of Transportation worker was wounded and a man was arrested after a chase, shootout and standoff with law enforcement agents on a remote stretch of highway in northeastern Nevada, authorities said Wednesday.
The initial shooting happened about 10 a.m. as a white panel van passed through a construction zone on State Route 278 about 15 miles south of Carlin, Highway Patrol Trooper Hannah DeGoey said.
The worker was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital and troopers and local sheriff's deputies chased the van south for about 25 miles in Eureka County, not far from the Elko County line.
The vehicle was disabled with spike strips and a man inside exchanged gunfire with authorities before his arrest about three hours later, DeGoey said.
The suspect was hospitalized with unspecified injuries. The identities of both injured people were not immediately made public.
No other injuries were immediately reported and it was unclear if the man who was arrested was the only person in the van.
