Sheriff: Escaped inmate fatally shot in Billings

BILLINGS (AP) — The Yellowstone County sheriff says a deputy shot and killed a man who escaped from Montana State Prison.

Sheriff Mike Linder says an autopsy will be conducted to confirm that Dean Randolph Jess was the man killed.

Linder says the man was stopped in a stolen Jeep Friday at an intersection near the Billings Walmart.

Shots were fired when Jess refused to leave the vehicle and moved a handgun toward a deputy.

Jess was working for the Deer Lodge prison's motor vehicle maintenance on a service call Monday when he escaped.

His vehicle was found about 1 ½ miles from the prison. A ground and air search turned up no sign of him.

The 42-year-old Jess was sentenced to 55 years in prison for a 2004 Park County offense.