Man wanted in Washington killed in N.M.

CLOUDCROFT, N.M. – A man wanted in the wounding of a Lincoln County, N.M., sheriff’s deputy has been shot and killed, the FBI said.

FBI spokesman Steve Marshall said Kurt Sohrbeck was killed in a Wednesday afternoon shooting involving the Otero County Sheriff’s Department. He did not have details, and the Otero County undersheriff did not immediately return a call to the Associated Press.

Sohrbeck was also wanted in Washington state.

New Mexico state police, who are investigating the shooting, said they did not have a positive identification on the dead man.

“We are fairly sure that it is him (Sohrbeck), but we will not be able to make positive identification until we run fingerprints,” said state police spokesman Peter Olson.

The deputy, whose name has not been released, was responding to a possible sighting of Sohrbeck on N.M. 244 about 1 p.m. when a man on a bicycle opened fire on him, Olson said. The deputy fired back, killing the man, Olson said.

State police found the truck Sohrbeck had been driving near a canyon in Lincoln County last week, but the search was scaled back after authorities found no trace of him.

Authorities have described Sohrbeck as a career criminal and con artist with a record in 11 states, including pending charges for assault and eluding police in Whatcom County, Wash. He also is wanted by Washington state authorities in several cases of identity theft.

Olson said police received a call Wednesday that Sohrbeck had been spotted near Cloudcroft.

Sohrbeck was charged with attempted murder, aggravated fleeing from law enforcement, being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence in the March 13 shooting of Sgt. Robert Shepperd.

Shepperd was shot in the head, upper chest and left arm after pursuing Sohrbeck through the back roads of Ruidoso Downs.

He remained hospitalized in stable condition in El Paso, Texas.