An alleged white supremacist shot in the head after a car chase and gun battle with police in Texas may be linked to the murder of Colorado prison chief Tom Clements, sources tell CBS Denver affiliate KCNC.
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[h=3]Police believe Texas shootout linked to Colo. manhunt[/h]
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[h=3]Colo. prisons chief shot and killed at home[/h]
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[h=3]Colo. official shot at front door[/h]
Parole Evan Ebel is being investigated for that killing, sources tell CBS Denver affiliate KCNC. The 28-year-old Denver man is being kept alive on life support and not expected to survive, The KCNC's Rick Sallinger also reports that Ebel has been identified as a member of the white supremacist prison gang called the "211s," a.k.a. the Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance.
The chase which began when Texas officers in Montague County tried to pull over a known drug suspect and were fired upon by someone inside the black Cadiliac.
The Montague Sheriff's office said the Deputy James Boyd who first approached the vehicle, was shot, but Boyd is expected to make a full recovery.
A chase spanning two counties ensued. Eventually the suspect crashed the Cadillac into an 18 wheeler, near Decatur, Texas. After the crash, he emerged from the wreck and open fired on police. Deputies returned fire, and he was shot in the head.
"He didn't plan on being taken alive," said Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins, according to KCNC. "It didn't look like he wanted to be caught or taken alive."
Tuesday night, Clements, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was killed after he answered the door at his home in Monument, Colo. Texas authorities are checking whether the black Cadillac with Colorado plates in the car chase was the same vehicle spotted near the Clements' home the night he was killed.
Ebel is also being investigated in Sunday's shooting death of Denvar Domino's pizza delivery man, Nathan Leon.
The gang called "211s," was founded in 1995 by habitual criminal Benjamin Davis at Colorado's Denver County Jail.
Eventually the suspect crashed the Cadillac in Decatur, near Highway 380 and US 287. At some point, he was shot in the head and taken to an area hospital.
Suspect is carried on a stretcher following a car chase and crash in northern Texas.
/ Jimmy Alford / Wise County Messenger
Clements is the fifth criminal justice official in the United States to be targeted since the beginning of the year, including the still unsolved murder of a Texas prosecutor shot dead outside a courthouse in January, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman reports.
Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office in Santa Clara County California, found that there were 35 such attacks or attempted attacks between 2010 and 2012. That's nearly as many as all the attacks on public officials over the prior nine years. The primary motive, McGovern told Strassman, appears to be revenge.
"It's very worrisome," McGovern said. "No government agency besides maybe the secret service provides 24-hour protection. We can't do that."
Clements, who ran prisons in two states for 30-plus years, could have potentially built up a number of grievances and grudges with guys he had contact with - but officials haven't yet zeroed in on who the suspect could be.
"There could be any one of a number of people who would have a motive to perpetrate a crime like this against Mr. Clements," Lt. Kramer told Strassman.
[h=3]Police believe Texas shootout linked to Colo. manhunt[/h]
[h=3]Colo. prisons chief shot and killed at home[/h]
[h=3]Colo. official shot at front door[/h]
Parole Evan Ebel is being investigated for that killing, sources tell CBS Denver affiliate KCNC. The 28-year-old Denver man is being kept alive on life support and not expected to survive, The KCNC's Rick Sallinger also reports that Ebel has been identified as a member of the white supremacist prison gang called the "211s," a.k.a. the Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance.
The chase which began when Texas officers in Montague County tried to pull over a known drug suspect and were fired upon by someone inside the black Cadiliac.
The Montague Sheriff's office said the Deputy James Boyd who first approached the vehicle, was shot, but Boyd is expected to make a full recovery.
A chase spanning two counties ensued. Eventually the suspect crashed the Cadillac into an 18 wheeler, near Decatur, Texas. After the crash, he emerged from the wreck and open fired on police. Deputies returned fire, and he was shot in the head.
"He didn't plan on being taken alive," said Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins, according to KCNC. "It didn't look like he wanted to be caught or taken alive."
Tuesday night, Clements, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was killed after he answered the door at his home in Monument, Colo. Texas authorities are checking whether the black Cadillac with Colorado plates in the car chase was the same vehicle spotted near the Clements' home the night he was killed.
Ebel is also being investigated in Sunday's shooting death of Denvar Domino's pizza delivery man, Nathan Leon.
The gang called "211s," was founded in 1995 by habitual criminal Benjamin Davis at Colorado's Denver County Jail.
Eventually the suspect crashed the Cadillac in Decatur, near Highway 380 and US 287. At some point, he was shot in the head and taken to an area hospital.
/ Jimmy Alford / Wise County Messenger
Clements is the fifth criminal justice official in the United States to be targeted since the beginning of the year, including the still unsolved murder of a Texas prosecutor shot dead outside a courthouse in January, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman reports.
Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office in Santa Clara County California, found that there were 35 such attacks or attempted attacks between 2010 and 2012. That's nearly as many as all the attacks on public officials over the prior nine years. The primary motive, McGovern told Strassman, appears to be revenge.
"It's very worrisome," McGovern said. "No government agency besides maybe the secret service provides 24-hour protection. We can't do that."
Clements, who ran prisons in two states for 30-plus years, could have potentially built up a number of grievances and grudges with guys he had contact with - but officials haven't yet zeroed in on who the suspect could be.
"There could be any one of a number of people who would have a motive to perpetrate a crime like this against Mr. Clements," Lt. Kramer told Strassman.