BURNS – A man was found dead of a gunshot wound Wednesday after he fled from police who were searching for a fugitive wanted out of Indiana.
The incident began about 12:30 p.m. as Harney County Sheriff David Glerup and Sgt. Brian Needham, accompanied by an FBI special agent, were driving to a remote residence off Taylor Road on a tip that the fugitive was living in the area.
Driving on a dirt road, they saw a pickup truck coming toward them on a parallel dirt road, separated by a fence, and noticed that the truck had a rifle hanging on a rack inside. Both vehicles came to a stop; the officers and the pickup driver got out and spoke briefly before the man got back into the truck and fled.
The sheriff and sergeant both fired at least one shot at the fleeing vehicle.
The police subsequently found the pickup truck stopped about a quarter-mile away from the confrontation site. They found the man dead inside, with a gunshot wound to the head and a rifle lying next to him on the seat.
Emergency medical workers were dispatched, but the man was dead at the scene.
Oregon State Police (OSP) Criminal Investigation Division detectives, assisted by the Harney County District Attorney's Office, are investigating the death. They did not release the man’s name Thursday morning pending positive identification and notification of next of kin. The initial investigation indicated the man matched the description of the fugitive.
An autopsy is pending, police said.
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