Alex Deaton courtesy of Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office
BRANDON, Miss. (AP) — The Latest on the capture of a Mississippi fugitive in Kansas (all times local):
3:30 p.m.
A convenience store clerk in Kansas is in critical condition after police say he was shot by a fugitive charged with two murders in Mississippi.
Maria Loving, a spokeswoman for Via Christi Hospital in Wichita, says the clerk is in critical condition Wednesday but she could not release the man’s name.
Authorities say the man was shot Wednesday in Pratt as officers were searching for 28-year-old Alex Deaton. Pratt Police Sgt. Edward Gimpel said Deaton was being chased in a stolen car when he went into a Kwik Shop, shot the clerk and stole a vehicle. Deaton was later arrested when the vehicle car crashed in Ellsworth County.
Mississippi authorities have charged Deaton in the death last week of his girlfriend and the shooting death
Scene of Wednesday’s crash-photo courtesy KHP
of another woman at a rural Mississippi church. He’s also suspected of other crimes in Mississippi and New Mexico.
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Noon
Mississippi authorities say they will seek extradition of a fugitive who left a nearly 2,000-mile trail of violence that ended in a fiery crash Wednesday in central Kansas.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey told reporters that Kansas authorities have agreed to hand over 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton, who is suspected of strangling his girlfriend last week in a suburb of Mississippi’s capital city. Deaton is then believed to have shot a jogger from the SUV he stole from the girlfriend, and officials say he may have also killed a woman at a rural Mississippi church.
Bailey says Deaton sent a series of texts, some incriminating, to friends and family before he went silent Saturday. He resurfaced Tuesday, with New Mexico authorities saying he carjacked and briefly abducted two hikers. Kansas authorities say he shot a store clerk in that state and stole another vehicle, before being captured following a chase.
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10:45 a.m.
Authorities have arrested a man suspected of shooting a Kansas convenience store clerk and kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico while on the run after his girlfriend was killed and a jogger was shot in Mississippi.
Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Tod Hileman said in a tweet that 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton was taken into custody Wednesday near the town of Wilson, about 80 miles from where the clerk was shot.
Kansas authorities began pursuing Deaton because he was driving a vehicle reported stolen in New Mexico. Kansas investigators say the suspect ditched the vehicle before shooting the clerk and stealing another vehicle. Hileman says Deaton was arrested after his vehicle crashed and caught fire.
Authorities were seeking Deaton in the death of 30-year-old Heather Robinson. Mississippi officials also consider him a suspect in the shooting death of a woman found dead at a rural church.
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Deaton-photo Mississippi Bureau of Investigation
ELLSWORTH COUNTY– A suspect wanted for a Wednesday morning shooting in Pratt County is in custody after a chase and crash in Ellsworth County.
Just before 8a.m. on Wednesday, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper attempted to stop an eastbound black Cadillac on Interstate 70 just west of Bunker Hill Road, according to a media release from the KHP.
The vehicle matched the description of a vehicle included in an attempt to locate after a shooting at a convenience store in Pratt early Wednesday.
The suspect, Alex Deaton, 28, was wanted for the incident in Pratt County. He refused to stop the vehicle and deputies successfully deployed stop sticks. The driver took the Wilson exit and drove a mile south to the town of Wilson. Troopers used tactical vehicle intervention to prevent Deaton and the vehicle from entering the community.
Officers caught Deaton after the Cadillac crashed and caught on fire. There were no injuries to officers or Deaton.
He faces charges through multiple county courts in Kansas and is also wanted for a double-murder in Mississippi and other crimes in multiple states including kidnapping two hikers in New Mexico while on the run after his girlfriend was killed and a jogger was shot in Mississippi.
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ELLSWORTH COUNTY– The wanted suspect who allegedly shot a convenience store clerk Wednesday morning in Pratt County was arrested in Ellsworth County after a chase, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
The KHP is expected to release addition details later on Wednesday.
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PRATT COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Pratt County are investigating a shooting and stolen vehicle after officers engaged in a pursuit involving a vehicle that had been reported stolen from a location in New Mexico.
The vehicle was later abandoned by the suspect, who fled on foot to a convenience store located on the west side of Pratt, according to a media release from Pratt County Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect entered the store where he shot a clerk before stealing a vehicle from the parking lot. The stolen vehicle is described as a black, Cadillac CTS bearing Kansas license plate 013JVR.
The suspect in this case has been tentatively identified as 28-year-old Alex Bridges Deaton.
He is wanted for a homicide in Mississippi and a robbery and shooting in New Mexico.
Any who sees either the black Cadillac or Deaton is urged to contact law enforcement immediately.
Do no approach or make contact as Deaton is deemed armed and extremely dangerous.