News
Pike County Sheriff Deputies Searching For Suspects In Shooting Incident
By: Matt Lucas | Pike County News Watchman
Posted on:
The Pike County Sheriff's Office is searching for two suspects, one of whom fired a gun at a Highland County deputy's cruiser early Monday morning.
According to Pike County Sheriff Richard N. Henderson, at about 3 a.m. on Monday, Highland County Deputy Thomas Putnam observed a vehicle with no visible license tags and a broken tail light lens and initiated a traffic stop on state Route 41 in Highland County.
The vehicle reportedly traveled across the county line into Pike County before stopping, and, once stopped, the driver exited his vehicle and began to approach Putnam while he was radioing Highland County Dispatch. According to Henderson, Putnam advised the driver to get back in his vehicle. The driver then looked at the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and the passenger exited the vehicle, raised a long gun, and fired at the patrol cruiser.
According to Putnam, his cruiser was hit by shot gun pellets. The suspects reportedly reentered their vehicle and sped away, and Putnam pursued them into Pike County and onto Fairview Road, where the suspects stopped abruptly in the roadway. Putnam said that he exited his vehicle with his issued 12-gage shotgun and observed the suspects' vehicle back-up lights come on.
Deputy Putnam stated that he then fired three shots that struck the rear of the suspect vehicle, and the suspects fled again. After pursuing the suspects from Fairview Road to Poplar Grove Road in Adams County, Putnam's patrol unit began to fail, and he lost sight of the suspects.
The suspects' vehicle is reportedly a late 1990s to early 2000s model Dodge Stratus, with four doors, grey/green in color, with the left-side tail light missing. The driver is described as a white male in his late 20's, about six feet, two inches tall, of slender build, with glasses and a goatee beard.
The passenger is described as a white male in his 40's, approximately five feet, eight inches tall, of a stocky build, with short, balding, light-colored hair and thin facial hair.
The suspects' vehicle was reportedly last seen fleeing south on Poplar Grove Road in Adams County. If anyone has any information as to where the suspects or their vehicle may be, they should contact the Pike County Sheriff's Office or any local law enforcement agency. The Pike County Sheriff's Office phone number is 740-947-2111.