Suspect shot Saturday night in Beatrice, after flight from sheriff's and police officers

BEATRICE – A suspect is in critical, but stable condition following an officer-involved shooting late Saturday night, in Beatrice.

Chief of Police Bruce Lang says the incident began as an attempted traffic stop of a vehicle north of Beatrice along U.S. Highway 77, at around 10:30 p.m. The pursuit by a Gage County Sheriff’s Deputy southbound on the highway reached speeds of over 100 miles-per-hour.

Police set up spike strips at 6th and Industrial Row and 6th and Dorsey, which flattened all four tires on the fleeing vehicle. Lang says the driver eventually fled his vehicle on foot near Second and Ella Streets after it crossed a set of railroad tracks near the Gage County Museum.

"Responding officers and deputies created a perimeter around there and began to look for the individual. They discovered the driver. The driver made statements to officers, I have a gun, don't make me use it...and reached his hands into his waistband. A taser-deployment was attempted and was unsuccessful. When the individual reached into his waistband, a Beatrice Police officer fired multiple shots at the suspect, striking him."  The suspect was struck multiple times. The officer who fired the shots administered first aid to the driver, and the suspect was taken to Bryan West Hospital by Beatrice Fire and Rescue.

After the vehicle struck the spike strips, the driver had continued fleeing police at about 30-to-40- miles-per-hour.  Lang said police did not recover any weapon from the scene. The suspect did not display a weapon or fire any shots.

"There was a car recovered. There was an occupant, a female occupant who remained with the vehicle, and was identified. She was not arrested. It was determined later that there was an outstanding warrant for the individual which we suspect was why he was fleeing. The other things we have on him are simply the traffic charges associated with the pursuit."

Gage County Sheriff Millard Gustafson says the reason for the pursuit was that a northbound deputy observed a headlight that was out on the vehicle, as it headed south. The pursuit began about six miles north of Beatrice. Chief Lang said there was significant traffic in the city along the highway when police deployed the spike strips.

"They made a kind of a loop around town. They went all the way south to Caldwell....went east on Caldwell...then back north up to Ella....then west on Ella to about Second Street, down there by the railroad tracks."

The identity or hometown of the person shot and the identity of the officer involved were not released. The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating. Lang says the officer involved has been placed on administrative duty while the investigation continues.

The only previous officer-involved shooting involved a suspect shot and killed during a SWAT unit response to Blue Springs, in southern Gage County.