Man ID'd in Texas shootout, may be tied to Colorado death

DECATUR, Texas -- A paroled Colorado inmate who may be linked to the slaying of the state's prison chief led Texas deputies on a 100-mph car chase that ended Thursday after he crashed into a semi and then opened fire before being shot down by his pursuers.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was driving a Cadillac in Texas that matched the description of the vehicle seen leaving the neighborhood where prisons chief Tom Clements was shot. Ebel was hooked up to equipment for organ harvesting, and authorities say he is not expected to survive.

Colorado investigators headed to Texas to determine whether Ebel was linked to Clements' slaying and Sunday's killing of Nathan Leon, a Denver pizza delivery man. Police in Colorado would only say the connection to the Leon case is strong but would not elaborate on either the Clements or Leon case.

The Denver Post first reported Ebel's name, and that he was in a white supremacist prison gang called the 211s. A federal law enforcement official confirmed his identity and gang affiliation to The Associated Press.

Clements, 58, of Monument, north of Colorado Springs, was gunned down after answering the door of his home Tuesday evening. The Texas car chase started when a sheriff's deputy in Montague County, James Boyd, tried to pull over the Cadillac around 11 a.m. Thursday, authorities there said. The driver opened fire on Boyd, wounding him, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said, and crashed into a semi as he tried to drive away.

He got out of the vehicle, shooting at deputies and troopers, officials said. He shot four times at Decatur Police Chief Rex Hoskins, who later said, "He wasn't planning on being taken alive."

"We don't know yet exactly whether this is the guy," Gov. John Hickenlooper said.