Man fatally shot by police after chase in Missoula

An intoxicated Missoula man was “inflicting lethal force” on a woman when a police officer shot him after a pursuit early Wednesday, Missoula County officials said.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Paige Pavalone said police received a 911 call about a domestic disturbance involving three people at about 2 a.m.

Officers tried to stop the suspect in front of a grocery store, but he sped away with a woman in the car.

He eventually stopped on a ramp connecting West Broadway and North Reserve in the northern part of the city. The 20-year-old man was injuring the woman when he was shot at 3:18 a.m., Pavalone said.

The names of the man who was shot and the officer who shot him were not immediately released. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave per department policy, Sgt. Travis Welsh said.

The woman was not injured in the shooting, Pavalone said.

A body covered by a sheet lay next to the car on the ramp for just over seven hours until Sanders County Coroner Kathy Harris arrived to investigate.

The ramp reopened around 11:30 a.m. after a tow truck moved the man’s car.