LAKE COUNTY — A man was shot at by an Indiana State trooper when he brandished a firearm during a pursuit in a stolen vehicle across northwest Indiana, authorities say.
Indiana State Police say the 18-year-old Chicago man was shot at on Interstate 80 in Gary and then jumped off the 30-foot Cline Avenue bridge embankment before he was taken by a lifeline helicopter to a Chicago-area hospital.
It all started when police received a report that the suspect carjacked a Chevrolet Malibu in Homewood, a village across the state line south of Chicago.
Troopers responded for the call about 3 p.m. While searching for the vehicle, they were notified the suspect got out of a 2010 Chevrolet Impala and took the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu from a female driver at gunpoint, according to ISP.
Police were notified shortly afterward of a reported shooting between two vehicles traveling west on Interstate 80.
Around that time, Lake County Sheriff's police patrolling Cline Avenue near 45th Street in Griffith found both the Malibu and Impala. Police tried to stop the drivers, at which point they fled north on Cline Avenue, police said.
The driver of the Impala, a 21-year-old Chicago man, hit a curb and disabled the vehicle, at which point he was taken into custody.
Meanwhile, state troopers and Sheriff's police continued to chase the Malibu's driver onto I-80 westbound from Cline Avenue to Indianapolis Boulevard. The car finally became disabled when it crashed with an ISP vehicle, causing the driver to lose control and hit a concrete barrier.
It was then the 18-year-old driver then got out of the car with a weapon visible, prompting a trooper from ISP's Lowell Post to fire his duty pistol, police said.
The driver then jumped down the embankment. Responding officers came to him and immediately provided medical aid before he was transported to a local hospital and later transferred via helicopter to a hospital in the Chicago area.
His latest condition was unknown, as of late Monday, police said.
The Indiana State Police Lafayette District is leading an investigation into the shooting of the driver while the Lowell Post is investigating the gunfire that preceded it on I-80.
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