Suspect shot after 10 hour standoff with police in Texas

By Lisa Maria Garza

(Reuters) - Police shot an armed suspect multiple times when he fired on a state patrolman at the end of a 10-hour standoff on Monday along an interstate highway in south Texas, authorities said.

Adam Vielta, 25, a San Antonio-area resident, was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital with unknown injuries, the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. No officers were injured, it said.

The sheriff's office said Vielta had fled from police after a routine traffic stop near Laredo, Texas, early on Monday and abandoned his car when it got a flat tire on Interstate 35 near Dilley, southwest of San Antonio.

After several hours of roadside negotiations, Vielta fired at a Texas Highway Patrolman, and two other officers returned fire, striking him, the sheriff's office said.

Police said Vielta has an outstanding warrant from Bexar County for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Traffic backed up for miles on I-35 in south Texas due to the standoff, authorities said.

(Reporting by Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas; Editing by Sandra Maler)