High-speed, wrong-way chase ends in gunfire and Fernley man's arrest

A dangerous, high-speed, wrong-way chase down the freeway ended in a confrontation and an officer shooting in Fernley Tuesday night.

It began with deputies attempting to stop a vehicle speeding, lights off, through a residential neighborhood. The chase was abandoned out of safety concerns as the vehicle sped into a high-traffic area. But about a half hour later it was spotted on Commerce Drive on the town's east end.

As deputies gave chase, the vehicle drove onto an I-80 off ramp and sped westward in the eastbound lanes. In an attempt to stop it, deputies rammed it with their own vehicles.

It ended at the Pilot truck stop on Fernley's west side, but not before they say the driver showed a gun and aimed his car at them. The two deputies fired, hitting the car.

Thirty-nine-year old Jeremy Random of Fernley was taken into custody after a struggle in which one deputy sustained minor injuries. Random himself had been struck by a bullet fragment and was transported to a hospital where he was apparently uncooperative with the doctor.

He was released and taken to the Lyon County jail and booked on charges of eluding and assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $70 thousand.

This is not Random's first brush with Lyon County authorities. In June he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and assaulting an officer.

The two deputies are on administrative leave while the incident is investigated by the Nevada Division of Investigation and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.

That leaves the already short-staffed Lyon County Sheriff's Office scrambling to cover shifts in the Fernley area. Sheriff Al McNeil tells us it's possible he may be pulling some shifts in Fernley.