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Last updated on Thursday, March 1, 2012
(ANDERSON CO. TN.)(WATE TV) - A Bedford woman and a Linton man are dead after a shootout with Tennessee police Wednesday.
The two were in a stolen pickup truck, and after a police chase, and shooting - both were killed.
Names of the victims have not been released by authorities pending notification of next of kin.
The truck, which had an Indiana tag, was reported stolen earlier Wednesday. The Greene County Daily World reports that Linton police reported that the truck was apparently stolen from the Linton Vet Clinic on Tuesday.
LPD Det. Duane Collenbaugh answered a call from the clinic that stated that one of their trucks - a 2003 tan-colored Ford F250 extended cab pickup - had been stolen sometime between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.
Veterinarian Roy Whitman told police that he drove the truck to pick up lunch and later in the afternoon couldn't find his truck.
The truck was unlocked with the keys in it, Collenbaugh reported.
Whitman told police inside the truck was a Ruger .22 caliber pistol in the console and a shotgun lying in the backseat.
In the truck bed was a storage unit that contained drugs and syringes used for animals.
Collenbaugh noted that the truck was entered into a national computer network as stolen.
On Wednesday, LPD was contacted by Tennessee police that the vehicle's driver had stolen some gasoline at a service station near Knoxville, Tenn. Police indicated that the license plates on the truck had been changed.
Collenbaugh stated that Tennessee authorities told him that the truck got stuck on a country road in Anderson County. A farmer helped pulled them out, but became suspicious and contacted police.
Lake City police got a call at 10:42 a.m. about a gas drive off worth $146 from Pilot on N. Main Street. When an officer arrived the truck had already left, going south on Interstate 75.
Lake City police told the Anderson County Sheriff's Office about the truck.
A sheriff's officer spotted the truck later that afternoon and tried to pull it over, but the driver fled. Someone in the truck then began firing at officers.
The officer chased the suspects along Raccoon Valley Road, and another officer joined the pursuit.
A tire on the truck eventually blew out. The driver lost control and ran out into a field along Blockhouse Valley Road in Clinton. Sheriff Paul White says gunfire continued. Officers returned fire, hitting both suspects. The Bedford woman was killed at the scene. The Linton man died later at a hospital.
The suspects' weapon was found in the truck.
The officers are on paid leave, which is standard procedure for a shooting they are involved in.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also responded to the scene.
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