CHEYENNE – A high-speed chase through downtown Cheyenne that included multiple shots fired at pursuing officers ended Friday evening with the driver being shot and taken to the local hospital.
According to a news release from the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the chase began outside city limits when troopers tried unsuccessfully to stop a stolen vehicle. After winding its way through downtown at speeds close to 65 mph, the chase ended around 6:30 p.m. near the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on East Pershing Boulevard.
No information was available by press time about the suspect or his condition, but police scanner traffic indicated a 20-year-old male had been shot twice by a Cheyenne Police officer.
CPD Sgt. Dan Long confirmed the man had two gunshot wounds and was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, but he didn’t know the man’s name or his age.
Both Highway Patrol and Long confirmed that no law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.
Long said the chase began on Interstate 25 north of town when Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers tried to stop the vehicle, described on police radio as a black Toyota Camry. Long said it’s unclear exactly which path the chase took, but once the pursuit entered city limits, police were asked to help stop the car.
Dispatchers could be heard calling for officers with spike strips to head to Central Avenue as the chase traveled southbound toward Lincolnway. The vehicle and pursuing officers could be seen speeding west on Lincolnway in front of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle building, then heading east on 17th Street a minute or two later.
Gunshots could be heard as the car being pursued passed the back of the WTE, and it appeared the rear window was missing. The car also had at least one flat tire on the passenger side at that point.
“I know that gunfire was exchanged during the pursuit, but I don’t know exactly how it happened,” Long said when asked whether the back window had been shot out.
Long said the chase continued on 19th Street to Pershing, passing through the two-lane roundabout before ending in the 2300 block of Pershing. As the chase ended, an officer could be heard calling for traffic to be blocked on both sides of the roundabout, and Long said Henderson Drive was blocked, as well.
Long said visitors in town for today’s departure of the Big Boy 4014 steam engine shouldn’t get the idea this type of thing happens often.
“We’ve seen a lot of different types of events like this, but it’s certainly rare in Cheyenne to have the high-speed pursuit and the gunfire exchanged all at once,” said the 12-year CPD officer.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation has taken the lead over the case, since it includes an officer-involved shooting.
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Brian Martin is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s managing editor. He can be reached by email at bmartin@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @briankmartin.
