Oologah Officer Shot During Pursuit, Police Search For Suspect

Several law enforcement agencies are investigating after an officer was shot during a pursuit on Highway 169 north of Nowata Thursday evening.

According to Trooper Dwight Durant with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, an Oologah police car was in pursuit of a vehicle containing three people, when the officer was shot in the head and his car ran off the highway and rolled over.

We're told the pursuit started when the officer attempted to pull over the vehicle.

The crash happened about eight miles south of the Kansas state line.

A medical helicopter flew him to a hospital. Sources told us he was awake and stable and the bullet only grazed him. The name of the officer has not been released.

Other agencies joined the pursuit, according to Durant. He said the suspects abandoned a black SUV after stop sticks were put out, then they carjacked another vehicle and shot an elderly man inside in the neck. We don't know that person's condition.

According to the trooper, two of the suspects - a male and female - were caught while the third, described as a Hispanic male in a white shirt, continued into Kansas.

Durant said officers lost track of the third suspect when he ran into the woods.

Law enforcement shut down Highway 169 near the Liberty, Kansas exit as they searched for the suspect. They've also shut down the highway where the officer was shot as they processed the crime scene. 

Law enforcement set up a perimeter of about one-square mile in the Coffeyville area where gunfire was exchanged. Officers focused on a house in the area where they believed the suspect may have been hiding but was not located.

The mayor of Liberty, Kansas, Brad Allen, contacted News On 6 and said the search area is about a mile east of the city and that the family that lives in the home was not there at the time of the search. He said they are safe at a neighbor's home.

According to Durant, officers found body armor and assault rifles left behind in the black SUV abandoned by the suspects.