The GBI is investigating a police chase Wednesday night that ended in a fatal shootout between a suspect and police and state troopers in Newton County.
The chase began around 9 p.m. Wednesday night when a Georgia State Patrol trooper clocked an eastbound motorist driving 94 mph on I-20 just past the Rockdale/Newton county line, Covington police Lt. Wendell Wagstaff said.
The trooper attempted to stop the older model sedan, which sped eastbound for about four miles before exiting at Alcovy Road, Wagstaff said.
The suspect got back on I-20, briefly going westbound in the eastbound lanes before turning around.
The chase ended about 100 yards later when a trooper performed a "PIT maneuver."
The vehicle came to a stop perpendicular to the travel lanes, and the suspect began shooting at the trooper and a Covington officer who had responded to back up the trooper, Wagstaff said.
"He was sitting in the driver's seat, shooting out the window," Wagstaff said.
The trooper and officer returned fire, killing the suspect.
Neither the state trooper nor the Covington officer was injured. A female passenger described as a friend of the suspect was also uninjured.
Investigators were interviewing the woman to determine why her friend fled then opened fire on police.
The suspect's name has not been released.
All eastbound lanes of I-20 were shut down at Alcovy Road for several hours while authorities investigated the incident. The interstate reopened shortly after 5 a.m.
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