Officials: Highway patrol member shot kidnapping suspect

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A female suspect in a kidnapping on a North Carolina highway was shot and wounded after she fired on a member of the State Highway Patrol early Tuesday, officials said.

The patrol was notified around 6:45 a.m. of multiple hit-and-run crashes between McDowell and Burke counties and a kidnapping on Interstate 40, officials said in a news release. When patrol Sgt. Aaron Johnson arrived, he found the truck on the shoulder and a female suspect in the truck bed fired at him, officials said.

When Johnson returned fire, he struck her, officials said. She was transported from the scene and is in stable condition. Officials are trying to identify her.

Johnson wasn’t injured and was placed on routine administrative duty, officials said.

The State Bureau of Investigation will oversee the shooting investigation and the State Highway Patrol will investigate the suspect’s actions.