By: Stan Maddux
BCR Correspondent
A man chased from Berrien County wound up shooting an Indiana State Police trooper multiple times then later took his own life with a gun during a manhunt.
Berrien County Sheriff Chuck Heit said the Friday morning chase began near Four Winds Casino outside New Buffalo when a police officer tried stopping a suspected stolen vehicle.
He said the pursuit ventured the short distance into Indiana on some side roads before returning to Michigan where the suspect fled westbound on Interstate 94.
At one point, Heit said the fleeing driver stuck the barrel of what was described as a rifle out the driver’s side window and fired at least one shot.
Heit said officers from Michigan stayed with the pursuit across the state line until law enforcement from multiple departments in Indiana were positioned to take over the chase.
“Once it went into Indiana further and they had enough units, we backed off and continued to monitor it but it never came back close to Michigan,” he said.
Several minutes later, the pursuit went southbound on U.S. 421 near Michigan City where a collision between the suspect and state trooper soon happened outside a Speedway station.
ISP Sgt. Glen Fifield said numerous shots rang out, including some by the officer returning fire.
The officer, Sgt. Justin Heflin, 40, was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend where he was listed in stable condition prior to surgery.
“I can report he is in good spirits at the moment,” he said.
Fifield said whether the suspect and officer were out of their vehicles during the gunfire exchange was still under investigation.
More than 20 yellow evidence markers were placed mostly in the Speedway parking lot close to the highway.
Police said many of those markers represented where empty shell casings were found.
After the gunfire exchange, Fifield said more than 100 officers were involved in a manhunt for the suspect whose pick-up truck was located with help from a police helicopter near Westville in the area of Joliet Road and Wozniak Road.
Kevin Meyers, 54, was found deceased later that morning in a nearby a cornfield.
The manhunt included the use of drones with cameras along with K-9 dogs.
La Porte County Coroner Lynn Swanson said an autopsy shows Meyers died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest from an AK-15 military assault rifle.
Swanson said he also sustained a single gunshot wound to the back delivered apparently by the officer returning fire.
She said Meyers was driving a pick-up truck stolen the previous day from a Michigan City car dealership.
Swanson said he removed a license plate from another vehicle at the casino and placed it on the stolen pick-up truck just before the pursuit.
According to court records, Meyers was serving a three year sentence on work release in La Porte County for auto theft.
A warrant was recently issued for his arrest for failing to return to the work release facility at night as required.