Incident: Vehicle Theft resulting in a standoff
Location: Billings and Hwy 87 E
Time: Started at approx. 5:20 AM
Approximately an hour later, a Yellowstone County Deputy spotted the stolen vehicle and pursued it on Hwy 87 east, into Big Horn County. MHP and Big Horn County were notified and a Big Horn County Deputy was able to lay down a spike strip, which the vehicle ran over. The vehicle continued until the driver lost control and drove off the road where the vehicle became disabled.
The male driver exited the vehicle and reported fired shots, although it is not known if the shots were in the direction of any of the law enforcement officers involved. The driver was probably 2-300 yards off the road where he sat down in the snow. Officers were able to maintain a view of the suspect and see that he was still armed.
The YCSO Tactical team was dispatched to the scene along with negotiators and members of the Billings Police Dept., including a K-9.
A drone was deployed and a closer view of the suspect showed that he was pointing the gun at himself. The BEAR Armored vehicle was on scene and used to ferry tactical officers and negotiators closer to the suspect. After a period of negotiations, the suspect threw the gun away from himself and Deputies approached and took him in to custody. This was shortly after 9:00 am. He was evaluated by on scene medical personnel but remains in custody because he did not require hospitalization.
Agencies that were on the scene consisted of the YCSO, BPD, Big Horn County (including their ambulance) and MHP.
