According to charging documents, a Cadillac Escalade flashed its lights at the pickup and then opened fire on the truck’s occupants, hitting all three.
Authorities found Hayes dead in the truck’s backseat. Casey Blanchard had been shot multiple times but was conscious and Julie Blanchard also had been shot and was conscious, the Associated Press reported, citing the court documents.
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A little over an hour after that shooting, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer located a vehicle near a bar in Evaro that match the description of the one involved in the Missoula shooting, according to state Department of Justice spokesman John Barnes.
The trooper reported to dispatchers that he was under fire, and then didn’t answer his radio, authorities say.
Palmer was found wounded and still buckled into his patrol car, according to Montana Highway Patrol officials. The suspect had fled the scene.
