Police believe a suspect who was killed in a wild car chase and shootout with police was the man who gunned down Tom Clements, the head of Colorado's prison system, at his front door. Authorities are investigating a possible link to a white supremacist prison gang. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
Investigators are looking into whether a paroled white supremacist may have killed a pizza delivery man and gunned down the top prisons official in Colorado before he led Texas authorities on a wild chase and shootout.
One theory in the case is that the parolee killed the delivery man for his uniform, and used the disguise to get the prisons official to open the door.
Investigators also believe the spree may be connected to a gang of white supremacists who are still in prison. Authorities from Colorado have traveled to Texas and are doing forensics tests to try to connect the crimes.
Sources identified the white supremacist to NBC affiliate KUSA as Evan Spencer Ebel.
?We don?t know yet exactly whether this is the guy,? Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters Thursday afternoon. ?There?s some indication. I hope it is.?
The prisons official, Tom Clements, was shot to death at his front door Tuesday night in the Denver suburbs. A dark car was seen idling outside, and authorities launched a manhunt.
Two days later and hundreds of miles away, late Thursday morning in Texas, authorities came across a dark sedan in a traffic stop. The man inside shot a sheriff?s deputy three times before speeding away.
Colorado Dept. of Corrections via Reuters
As more police followed, the man opened fire again.
?When he came by me, he was running I?d say around 100 miles an hour, just had his left arm out the window, and he was just shooting,? said Rex Hoskins, chief of the Decatur, Texas, police. ?He wasn?t planning on being taken alive.?
Authorities say the suspect collided with an 18-wheeler, got out of his car and kept firing until officers shot him. Texas authorities said he was legally dead but being kept alive in a hospital so his organs might be harvested.
Inside the suspect?s mangled car, authorities found a pizza delivery uniform that police believe may be linked to the murder of Nathan Leon, a Domino?s delivery man, on Sunday in Golden, Colo.
The car in the crash had a Colorado license plate and matches at least the vague description of the car that was seen outside Clements? home.
The deputy who made the traffic stop, James Boyd of the Montague County, Texas, sheriff?s department, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was taken to a hospital in Fort Worth.
EARLIER:
Man in Texas car chase, shootout may have ties to Colorado prison chief death
Manhunt on for killer of Colorado prisons chief
This story was originally published on Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:07 AM EDT
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