BILLINGS – Authorities in Montana’s largest city advised residents to shelter in place and lock their doors Thursday as law enforcement officers searched for a pair of men allegedly involved in a shooting and stolen vehicle pursuit.
A person who matched a description of one of the suspects was arrested Thursday evening in the Billings area, police said.
The arrest came after officers from multiple agencies had searched for the suspects for several hours in a wooded area of Billings’ Heights neighborhood. They were armed with at least one rifle, Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said.
The suspects fled from authorities in a stolen vehicle following a shooting that injured a person in the Shepherd area, which is about 15 miles east of Billings. The victim, a man in his 60s, saw someone stealing an ATV ramp from his vehicle and was shot as he attempted to pursue the suspects, Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said.
After reaching the city, the pursuit reached a dead end road and the suspects drove to the edge of a cliff, got out of the vehicle and descended into a wooded area. St. John asked residents in the Heights to report anything suspicious and urged them not to search for the suspects on their own.
A second vehicle theft in the same area of the shooting was likely connected, Linder said.