MERIDIAN, Idaho — Kristian Mortensen was driving home from work on Thursday when he found himself in the center of a police chase that ended in multiple shots fired.
“It was wild. I’ve been to plenty of gun ranges but I’ve never been that close to gunfire when it’s an actual crime scene,” Mortensen told Allie Triepke.
His eyewitness video here shows several officers closing in on the driver after a police chase through Kuna and Meridian.
“He did put a lot of lives at risk, including mine since he drove right past me,” said Mortensen.
RELATED | Police shooting at Meridian Road on-ramp to I-84 following pursuit
It started around 6:00 Thursday night, when Meridian Police were called to a fight near Eagle Rd and Overland Rd.
Officers found the suspect, but say he drove off initiating a pursuit.
A few minutes later officers lost sight of the suspect somewhere in South Meridian and called off the chase.
About 15 minutes later, the car in question was seen driving through a Kuna neighborhood, and officers continued the pursuit.
Laying spike strips on Meridian Rd, but the driver kept going, northbound, toward the interstate.
That's when police say the driver called Ada County dispatch himself, and told them he had a gun.
Mortensen was merging onto the westbound on-ramp when he saw the pursuit pass by, “it was the white SVU, he flew right by me, and I looked in my rear view mirror and the cops were coming just as fast,” said Mortensen.
Then Kuna PD completed a pit maneuver.. stopping the driver in the median.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office tells us the suspect got out of his car with a gun in his hand… but whether or not he fired any shots is still under investigation.
Officers made verbal commands to the suspect, before what sounds like more than a dozen shots were fired, by 3 Kuna Police Deputies.
The suspect was hit, “I saw the driver side door was open and a body on the ground,” said Mortensen, and taken to the hospital in critical condition.
No officers were injured.
“Really sad experience to see something like that,” said Mortensen.
