SALT LAKE CITY – A suspect in a shootout with police near the Nevada-Utah line was hospitalized with a gunshot wound Friday after he allegedly fired his gun inside a strip club, fled the scene and crashed outside a Nevada casino along U.S. Interstate 80, authorities said.
Roads remained closed around the Red Garter Casino in West Wendover, Nevada at midday Friday while a bomb squad tried to dismantle a possible explosive device in the suspect's car, which also contained multiple firearms, investigators said.
Elko County Sheriff's Lt. Kevin McKinney said more than two dozen shots were exchanged between the suspect and West Wendover police before he surrendered and was flown by helicopter to a Salt Lake City hospital. He said the man went into surgery early Friday but his condition wasn't known.
The car is registered to an owner in Ogden, Utah but the suspect has not been identified, he said.
"We found some other firearms, a couple of long guns and a shotgun," McKinney told the Desert News (http://tinyurl.com/j6acjj6 ). "And we also found what appears to be an IED. We have the bomb technicians now evaluating it."
Police responded at about 8:45 p.m. Thursday after the man allegedly pulled a gun on the doorman at the strip club, hit him over the head with a handgun and fired a round into the bar.
McKinney said the doorman suffered minor injuries, but no one else was hurt.
He said two police officers fired at least 14 rounds at the man, and he returned at least 14 shots.
The suspect apparently was shot once in the chest and suffered leg injuries in the crash, he said.
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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
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