HAMILTON – Authorities say a 36-year-old man is dead after exchanging gunfire with a Hamilton police officer and then running his vehicle into a building following a traffic stop early Saturday morning.
The man’s name has not been released. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision, but authorities have not said what caused his death.
Hamilton Police Chief Ryan Oster says the man’s body has been sent to Missoula for an autopsy, but the results were not available Sunday.
Oster says the officer pulled the man over at 1:55 a.m. Saturday, and the officer was out of his vehicle when the man started shooting, and then drove away and ran into the building about three blocks away. Oster says the collision did significant damage to the vehicle and the building at the Ravalli County Road Department shop.
Oster says the officer involved in the shooting was not injured. Oster declined on Sunday to release the officer’s name.
The Missoula Police Department is conducting the investigation.