Suspect in Kelso homicide case arrested after high-speed chase into Clark County

A suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in Kelso on Tuesday led officers on a two-county high-speed chase that ended in a crash near a commercial area in Vancouver.

The incident began at 10:24 a.m. when Kelso police responding to a report of a shooting in progress in the 600 block of North Fourth Avenue in Kelso found a man’s body and observed a suspect fleeing in a vehicle, according to a statement from the Kelso Police Department.

The statement said the vehicle was seen speeding south on Interstate 5 a short time later. Officers from other agencies joined the pursuit, which proceeded into Clark County.

At 10:54 a.m., emergency radio traffic reported the suspect was driving east on Northeast 88th Street from St. Johns Road at speeds in excess of 100 mph before crashing with another vehicle near the intersection of Northeast 88th Street and Northeast 62nd Avenue.

Believing the driver of the vehicle may be armed, officers moved cautiously and established a perimeter around the car before contacting the driver, whom they learned was unarmed and trapped inside the vehicle, according to emergency radio traffic.

The suspect was freed from the vehicle, taken into custody and transported with possible injuries to a hospital, according to radio traffic. Three individuals in the vehicle the fleeing vehicle struck were also possibly injured, though no details were available.

The investigation tied up traffic in the area, which is near a popular shopping area and Seton Catholic College Preparatory High School.