Charges laid in Elkton Valley shooting

An Elkton Valley man has been charged in connection to a police-involved shooting, RCMP said Friday.

Christopher Ryan Morrill, 31, faces six counts relating to an incident Thursday in which RCMP officers wereshot at.

Didsbury RCMP were called to Elkton Valley, about 35 kilometres west of the central Alberta town, at about 2:30 a.m. over a report of a distraught man threatening someone with a rifle.

When the officers arrived backed up by Mounties from the Sundre and Olds the suspect fled in a pickup truck. He rammed two police vehicles before getting stuck in a creek bed a short distance away, police said.

Shots were fired at the officers from the vicinity of the suspect's truck, but they did not return fire, police said.

The RCMP set up a perimeter to prevent the suspect from escaping, and emergency response teams from Red Deer and Edmonton were called to the scene.

Six hours after the incident began, officers found and arrested the suspect.

No one was seriously hurt, but an RCMP officer suffered minor injuries when his vehicle was rammed.

Morrill faces firearms charges, as well as one count eachof uttering death threats, criminal flight from a police officer and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

He is in custody and a bail hearing is set for Monday.