Piedmont Police Chief Freddie Norton tells WEIS Radio News that two of his officers were involved in a shooting with an armed suspect this afternoon. 

Officers were investigating a suspicious vehicle when the driver fled and the officers pursued.  The vehicle pursuit ended when the suspect wrecked into a ditch and then began to flee on foot.  As he was exiting the vehicle, the man began firing a weapon at the officers. 

The officers returned fire, striking the suspect.  The man, identified to be 26 year-old Wesley Chad Deerman, of Boaz, was transported to Gadsden Regional Medical Center, where he later died from his injuries.

The shooting is being investigated by the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office and the Center for Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University.