BILLINGS – A sheriff’s deputy shot and killed an armed robbery suspect after a pursuit and standoff in Montana’s largest city, Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder said on Sunday.
The 35-year-old woman was being pursued after reportedly firing a shot into the air before stealing a vehicle in Billings just before 4 p.m. Saturday, police said. Police asked the sheriff’s department for assistance.
The woman hit two vehicles as she was fleeing officers who tried to conduct a traffic stop, causing severe damage to the stolen vehicle. It later became inoperable, police said.
Law enforcement officers tried to negotiate with the woman for about two hours before a SWAT team deployed tear gas into the vehicle, police said.
The woman got out with a gun pointed at officers, police spokesperson Lt. Matt Lennick said in a statement. A deputy shot the woman, who died later at the hospital, Linder said.
The deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, Linder said in a statement.
Saturday’s shooting happened a week after a Billings police officer was shot and injured during a 14-hour standoff with a woman who had shot at a neighbor’s mobile home, breaking a window. The woman eventually surrendered and has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted deliberate homicide and criminal mischief.