WELLSTON, Okla., Oct. 24 (UPI) — A manhunt was on Monday for a man who police say killed two relatives, critically wounded a driver in a carjacking and shot two police officers as he got away.
Two Wellston, Okla., police officers responding Sunday evening to a report of shots fired encountered a man who started shooting at them with an AK-47 assault rifle. One officer was shot in the foot, the other in both legs. Both were treated and released from a local hospital.
The gunman then stole a police car, and drove it through pastures, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputies said, adding he later carjacked another vehicle in a mobile home park, shooting the driver, who was injured but not hospitalized.
He went on to try to steal another car at a truck stop near Sayre, shooting the driver. Sayre police said that victim was hospitalized in critical condition.
Police have identified the suspected gunman as Michael Vance.
Investigators discovered the bodies of two of Vance’s relatives in a home where they believe he was hiding and believed to have stolen another car.
The latest in the string of stolen vehicles, a silver 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse, was last seen traveling west on Interstate 40 near the Texas/Oklahoma border. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals and the Beckham County Sheriff’s Office are involved in the search.
