U.S.

Officer Shot In Cop Killer Hunt

June 4, 1998 / 6:37 PM EDT / AP

A lawman was shot in southeastern Utah on Thursday as hundreds of police officers combed the area looking for three men accused of killing one officer and wounding two others in a Colorado shootout.

The Utah officer, who was in critical condition, was responding to a report from a man who said that a camouflage-clad gunman fired at him while he ate lunch along a riverbank.

[Late Thursday, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer said the body of a man thought to be one of the suspects was found shot to death near Buff, hours after the Utah officer was wounded.]

Three men wearing camouflage raked a patrol car with automatic rifle fire Friday after being pulled over in a stolen vehicle in Cortez, Colo., about 50 miles east of here.

The officer who pulled them over was killed and the suspects then shot it out with other officers wounding two before fleeing on foot into the canyons. All three suspects have been identified as survivalists from Colorado.

After Thursday's shooting, hundreds of officers moved quickly to evacuate Bluff's roughly 300 townspeople. Several helicopters flew into the area, and roadblocks were set up.

However, police would not say if they believed the shooter was one of the Colorado men.

The shooter was spotted by a social worker who was eating lunch on the banks of the San Juan River outside Bluff. The worker escaped unharmed.

The responding San Juan County deputy was shot a short time later.

A resident, Richard Adams, said by telephone that people were being told to leave.

"All we know is that we're being evacuated. The police are at the door right now," Mrs. Everett Berensen said. "They're taking everyone in town out."

Those being sought in Friday's shootout are Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, Colo.; Robert Matthew Mason, 26, and Jason Wayne McVean, 26, both of Durango, Colo.

Police in Durango said they found three pipe bombs in Pilon's camper trailer and two more bombs in Mason's pickup truck.

Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said the suspects were used to the territory.

"They're survivalists. They're hunkered down in there somewhere, waiting for us to give up so they can walk out," Lane said.