Police Chase Ends With One Person Shot, Killed Near Pryor

A police chase southeast of Pryor ended Thursday morning near the Oakwood Acres housing addition with the driver arrested and her passenger shot and killed.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the chase started after a Grand River Dam Authority Police officer ran the tag of a Hyundai Sonata and discovered it was stolen. The officer tried to stop the car and the driver fled around 9:30 a.m.

The chase went on for about five miles before the driver crashed near a pond.

OHP said the female driver, identified by OSBI as Claudia Taylor, 32, was arrested by a Mayes County deputy and booked into jail on a complaint of possession of a stolen vehicle. 

Her passenger, identified by OHP as 30-year-old Dustin Lee Shirrel, ran into the woods.

A manhunt was set up by the Mayes County Sheriff's Office, OHP and the GRDA police. A Mayes County dog team and a Tulsa Police chopper were also used in the search.

An OHP spokesman said the dog team found the scent and Shirrel came out of the woods, shortly after noon.

OHP said Taylor driver told the officers that Shirrel was armed.

OHP spokesman Lt. George Brown said Shirrel had a handgun when he stepped out of the woods and when he brandished it, officers from the three different agencies all opened fire and Shirrel was shot and killed.

Brown said shots were fired by an OHP trooper, a Sheriff's deputy, and a GRDA police officer, but said he didn't yet know if Shirrel had fired shots.

"[There are] Many houses in this area, schools in the area, very close to the city limits of Pryor. What the officers did today probably saved a lot of lives," Brown said.

Brown told reporters Shirrel may have had a criminal record, and a search of court records does show a Dustin Lee Shirrel with the same birth date, with an extensive record of charges including possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to elude an officer, possession of stolen property and assault. The Department Of Corrections website shows a Dustin Shirrel was incarcerated after a conviction in 2008.

OSBI confirmed that Shirrel was on probation for possession of a stolen vehicle and DOC records indicated he was also convicted for eluding a police officer.

Schools in Pryor and Chouteau were locked down as a precaution during the incident.

The OSBI is assisting with the investigation.