Fugitive Captured After Montana Shootout Man Sought After N. Idaho Chase, Patrol Officer Injured In Gunbattle

A Montana Highway Patrol officer was shot and wounded Wednesday afternoon when officers cornered a fugitive from Idaho and a gunbattle erupted along U.S. Highway 93 about a mile south of here, police said.

The officer was hospitalized in Hamilton, Mont., and underwent surgery. The suspect, identified as David Theodore Morgan Sr., 38, of Rathdrum, Idaho, was hospitalized under guard in Missoula. His wounds are not life-threatening, officials said.

The patrol officer was identified as Tom Hamilton. He was shot in the chest with a rifle, and the bullet ricocheted off his bulletproof vest into his right arm.

Officers returned fire, and the suspect was shot in the leg.

Morgan is named in a $1 million arrest warrant from Bonner County accusing him of two counts of trying to murder peace officers, one count of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated battery last weekend. He was described as driving a stolen red pickup truck with Idaho license plates.

The chase in the Bitterroot Valley began at 5:45 p.m. when a Ravalli County sheriff’s deputy attempted to stop a truck that was being driven erratically south of Hamilton. The driver refused to stop and sped northward through Hamilton. Tires on his vehicle were punctured by a spike strip, but the fugitive drove for two more miles, authorities said.

Two miles south of Victor, the driver jumped out of the truck and ran toward a small house, where he took shelter behind a bear statue in the front yard and began shooting at officers, officials said.

Morgan is accused of injuring one Bonner County sheriff’s deputy and shooting at another during a high-speed chase in North Idaho on Saturday night.

During that chase, the fleeing driver stopped the truck and backed up, ramming a deputy’s car and causing it to burst into flames. Later, the driver forced another officer off a road and then fired three shots at deputies with a 7 mm hunting rifle, followed by four more shots a mile down the road.

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson got word late Wednesday that Morgan had been involved in a shootout with Montana police.

“I’m very relieved he’s off the streets. He was a very high risk for the safety of our officers,” Watson said.

Although the department had not highly publicized it, officers had conducted an extensive search for Morgan.

“(Morgan) was spreading rumors that he had left the area,” Watson said. “But we thought he was putting out a story to throw us off. Victor is not that far away.”

Watson also expressed remorse to the injured Montana officer.

“I’m sorry for him and his family. And I’m glad he had his bulletproof vest on,” Watson said.

Authorities continue to search for Morgan’s son, David Morgan Jr., 17, who allegedly eluded deputies n a chase last Thursday.

Once Morgan is released from St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, he will be arraigned in Ravalli County, said Patrol Capt. Mike Frellick.

Staff writer Thomas Clouse contributed to this story.