Homeowner slays escaped inmate after break-in

BEDFORD (AP) ? An escaped inmate suspected of shooting a southwest Iowa sheriff?s deputy has been killed by a homeowner who said the man broke into his house, authorities said Tuesday.

Rodney Long was shot to death but no one else was seriously injured in the shooting in Bedford, the Iowa Public Safety Department said in a brief statement.

The Division of Criminal Investigation said a resident shot Long, 38, after the escapee broke into a home near Bedford, according to Des Moines television station KCCI.

Iowa officers, with help from Missouri officers and a Nebraska State Patrol aircraft, had been searching for Long since Sunday night, when the fugitive shot and wounded Deputy Dan Wyckoff near New Market, about 10 miles northwest of Bedford. Long escaped from the minimum-security prison facility in Clarinda on Friday. Clarinda is eight miles west of New Market.

Wyckoff had been dispatched to check on someone who was walking along Iowa Highway 2. The Iowa Public Safety Department said the deputy was shot in the chest and arm as he got out of his vehicle to talk to the man. Wyckoff sought cover nearby and the gunman jumped into the deputy?s vehicle and took off.

Another deputy soon arrived, the department said. He picked up Wyckoff and the two chased the stolen patrol vehicle. The chase wound through rural Taylor County for about 40 minutes, punctuated by exchanges of gunshots. Other officers joined the chase, and the stolen vehicle eventually went out of control and rolled several times. The suspect fled on foot.

Personal items left in the wrecked vehicle led officers to conclude that Long was the man who shot Wyckoff and stole his vehicle, the department said.

Wyckoff, 33, was flown to a hospital in Omaha, Neb., for treatment of his injuries.