The ex-inmate allegedly took the life of Colorado prison's head Tom Clements

Mar 23, 2013 09:26 GMT  ·  By

The main suspect in the killing of Colorado's head for the Department of Corrections, Tom Clements, has died in a shootout that involved police officers.

28-year-old Evan Ebel was a former prisoner out on parole, with ties to a white supremacist organization. Ebel died after a police chase in which both parties opened fire.

According to the Washington Times, officers tried to pull him over in Texas on Thursday, March 21, after suspecting him of selling drugs.

Ebel, who listed a location in Denver as his address upon getting out of jail recently, refused to stop the vehicle and sped up.

He started firing at law enforcement, wounding one officer who was wearing a bulletproof vest. While there is no indication about the extent of the deputy's wounds, he is currently recovering.

Ebel's vehicle came to a screeching halt after being involved in a collision, at which time he bolted out with police on his trail.

When he was caught up by deputies, he opened fire again and he was severely injured in the exchange. Emergency operators transported Ebel to a hospital where he was shortly pronounced dead.

Denver Channel details that he was a member of the "211" group since being imprisoned in Colorado jail, a white supremacist criminal organization he could never leave.

"Like many racist prison gangs, members of the 211 crew not only identify with the white supremacist ideology, but are prone to violence," Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Regional Director Scott Levin explains.

"He's served six years of an eight-year sentence and all but five months of the six years he's been held in solitary confinement.

"He has a high level of paranoia and extremely anxious, so when he gets out to visit me, and he gets out of his cell to talk to me, I mean he is so agitated that it will take an hour to an hour-and-half before we can actually talk," the ex-inmate's father Jack Ebel described.