Colorado Suspect Was in White Supremacist Gang

Evan Ebel spent years in solitary confinement
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2013 4:18 AM CDT
Colorado Suspect Was in White Supremacist Gang
This undated photo released by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows paroled inmate Evan Spencer Ebel. Ebel, 28, is the man who led Texas authorities on a 100 mph car chase that ended in a shootout Thursday, March 21, 2013, and may be linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief.   (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections)

The suspect in the shooting of Colorado corrections chief Tom Clements was a paroled member of a white supremacist prison gang, the Denver Post reports. "What's not known is whether this was ordered or a crime of opportunity," says a corrections official. Evan Ebel, a paroled member of a gang called the 211s, was involved in a chase and shootout in Texas yesterday; police are also investigating his possible involvement in the shooting of a pizza-delivery driver.

The driver, Nathan Collin Leon, 27, was shot several times after taking a call on Sunday in Denver. The Post profiles Ebel, who received his first adult conviction at age 19 for involvement in a robbery. The next year, he was convicted in another robbery and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was in solitary confinement for the majority of at least five years, his mother said in a web post. But "he was a young man who had real promise as a human being," said his former defense attorney. (More Colorado stories.)

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