The man reportedly tied to the murder of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements this week has died in Texas, according to the Denver Police Department.
The suspect, identified in media reports as Evan Spencer Ebel, on Thursday led law enforcement officers in Texas on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash and then a shoot-out with sheriff’s deputies, where he was wounded. The suspect, who has not been officially identified, was driving a car that matched the description of the vehicle being sought in connection with Clements’ murder. Reports had also indicated that Ebel was a suspect in the killing of a pizza deliveryman in Golden, Colo. on Sunday. On its official Twitter account on Friday, the Denver Police Department also confirmed that the suspect involved in the Texas shoot-out was a suspect in the Golden killing.
“[W]e are confident [the Texas] suspect is also … [a] suspect in Denver/Golden case,” the department wrote.
The deliveryman has been identified in media reports as Nathan Collin Leon, 27, who was shot on Sunday. Clements was shot and killed Tuesday evening while answering the front door of his home in Monument, Colo.
Ebel, 28, was identified as a suspect in the Clements case by anonymous federal and state officials who spoke with The Denver Post. According to the Post, Ebel was a parolee and member of a white supremacist prison gang called the 211 Crew. Ebel’s criminal record included robbery, menacing, and weapons charges. A Department of Corrections employee, who also spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity, said officials were investigating the possibility that the killing was a “hit” ordered by the gang.
