Update: Roadside shootout led to Montana trooper's death

BOZEMAN (AP) — Authorities say moments before he was gunned down, a Montana Highway Patrol officer approached a truck that was parked in the middle of a road in southwestern Montana.

Gallatin County Sheriff James Cashell said in a news conference Thursday that Trooper David DeLaittre (duh-LATE') called in the stop on Wednesday afternoon. That was the last anybody heard from the 23-year-old officer.

Cashell says a shootout ensued between DeLaittre and 56-year-old Errol Brent Bouldin in the roadway outside the town of Three Forks.

A local police officer arrived a short time later, found DeLaittre shot and put out an alert. Bouldin was found dead in his truck about 35 miles north. Cashell says a motive for the shooting may never be known.

MATT VOLZ, Associated Press

BOZEMAN (AP) — Authorities say moments before he was gunned down, a Montana Highway Patrol officer approached a truck that was parked in the middle of a road in southwestern Montana.

Gallatin County Sheriff James Cashell said in a news conference Thursday that Trooper David DeLaittre (duh-LATE') called in the stop on Wednesday afternoon. That was the last anybody heard from the 23-year-old officer.

Cashell says a shootout ensued between DeLaittre and 56-year-old Errol Brent Bouldin in the roadway outside the town of Three Forks. A local police officer arrived a short time later, found DeLaittre shot and put out an alert.

Bouldin was found dead in his truck about 35 miles north.

Cashell says a motive for the shooting may never be known.