Shootout Suspect May Have Worn Bulletproof Vest

Did a fugitive who was involved in a shootout with a state trooper and a deputy sheriff escape injury because the officers were bad shots, or was he wearing a bulletproof vest?

Clinton County Sheriff Ralph Fizer wants to believe a chest protector saved the fugitive.

“When I first saw the videotape, I didn’t see how my guy could have missed him,” Fizer told The Columbus Dispatch for a story Wednesday.

But after taking another look at an enhanced videotape of the Feb. 15 shootout, Fizer believes the gunman - later identified as Cheyne Kehoe - may have been wearing a bulletproof vest.

Fizer said Deputy Robert Gates fired seven shots at Kehoe from about nine feet, and that Kehoe appears to flinch at one point in the exchange of fire, as if being hit in the chest.

Kehoe, 20, and his brother, Chevie, 24, both of Colville, Wash., were indicted last week by a grand jury on 16 charges stemming from that shootout and another the same day involving two Wilmington police officers.

The brothers reportedly had been living in the Libby area of northwestern Montana until about six weeks ago.

Chevie Kehoe also was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Spokane on three counts of firearms violations. The indictment alleges he had possession of a semiautomatic pistol and an assault-style rifle stolen from an Arkansas gun dealer who was slain early last year along with his wife and her daughter.

The third count charges that he possessed an unregistered machine gun - a .223-caliber AR-15 rifle that was illegally converted into an assault weapon.

Authorities throughout the Northwest say the brothers shared interests in firearms, survivalism and anti-government philosophies. They are believed to be traveling in a 20-year-old white motor home - possibly with Montana plates - with their wives and several young children.

The Wilmington shootout was taped by a video camera in a State Highway Patrol cruiser after the trooper stopped a blue Chevrolet Suburban with expired Washington plates.

Chevie Kehoe got out but refused to be searched. His brother jumped from the passenger seat and fired at the trooper and a deputy sheriff before fleeing on foot. Chevie Kehoe jumped back into the car and sped off and a short time later shot at a city police cruiser before fleeing on foot.

Fizer said he believed Cheyne Kehoe might have put on a bulletproof vest while his brother was talking to the trooper. Fizer said an FBI enhanced version of the videotape appears to show the passenger “putting a strap” over his shoulder.

“The squirming around tells you that something isn’t right,” Fizer told the Dispatch.

Sgt. John Born, the patrol’s spokesman, agreed.

“It appears in the video that the passenger is reacting to being struck in the chest area, someplace where a vest would cover,” Born said.