A teenager is in custody after he allegedly fired a shotgun at two law enforcement vehicles this morning in southern Iowa’s Decatur County. The teen, identified as 16-year-old Chance Newton of Kellerton, was driving his sister’s car – which had been reported as stolen on Monday.
Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Scott Bright says a pursuit began as a trooper attempted to pull Newton over. A Decatur County Sheriff’s deputy also became involved in the chase, which ended when the teen lost control of the car near Leon and exited the vehicle with a shotgun.
“The suspect exited the vehicle and rounds were fired,” Sgt. Bright said. “The deputy’s vehicle was hit twice and one of our trooper’s vehicles was hit twice.” The officer involved did not return fire and no one was seriously injured, according to Bright. A trooper did receive cuts to the face from a shattered windshield. After firing the shots, the teen fled on foot.
Newton was tracked down by a police dog nearly a-mile-and-a-half away.”He was found in a farm building, inside a vehicle,” Bright said. “When they found him, he did have a rifle in his possession but he gave up, so there were no injuries to the suspect, any troopers or (officers with) other agencies that were involved.”
Newton is charged with two counts of attempted murder and additional charges are pending.