EARLY, Iowa -- A Manilla, Iowa man died Friday in a standoff with law enforcement in Sac County.
At around 3:18 p.m. Friday, the Sac County Sheriff's Office was notified of a vehicle pursuit in Crawford County that was proceeding north toward Ida and Sac County.
The suspect vehicle was a Lincoln Navigator that had been reported stolen out of Woodbury County earlier that morning, according to a press release from the Sac County Sheriff's Office.
The suspect driving the stolen vehicle was identified as Jason Scott French, of Manilla. French was wanted on a felony warrant out of South Dakota, and reportedly had a handgun on him and had made threats to harm officers.
An Ida County Sheriff's deputy found the suspect vehicle in southeastern Ida County and pursued the vehicle into southwestern Sac County. The pursuit continued northbound, and attempts to stop the Lincoln with stop sticks were unsuccessful. Sac County Deputies and Iowa State Patrol officers continued the pursuit until reaching the area of Jackson Avenue and 290th Street, where the Lincoln drove into a field and stopped in a ditch after hitting a fence.
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French stepped out of the Lincoln with a handgun, according to the press release, and attempts were made to communicate with him using loudspeakers.
Crisis negotiators and tactical teams from Storm Lake and Buena Vista County were dispatched to assist, and the Iowa State Patrol and Buena Vista County Sheriff's Office deployed drones to monitor the situation.
After around two hours, a gunshot was heard by law enforcement, according to the press release. Drone footage confirmed that French was not moving, and he was found dead with a handgun nearby when officers reached him. No shots were fired by law enforcement, the Sac County Sheriff's Office said in its press release.
Preliminary autopsy results found that French died of a gunshot wound to the head.