WILTON, N.D. — A man shot himself Friday morning during a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 83 near Wilton, prompting a temporary closure of the roadway and a continuing investigation by the Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department.
The incident began around 9:30 a.m. When a Burleigh County deputy initiated a traffic stop on a pickup truck, suspecting the driver was impaired, according to authorities. The stop occurred a couple hundred yards south of Wilton, approximately a quarter mile from the Cenex convenience store.
After complying with the deputy’s request to exit the vehicle, the man allegedly produced a handgun and suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Deputies, along with the North Dakota Highway Patrol and Wilton Ambulance, responded to the scene and immediately began administering life-saving measures.
The injured man was transported to a hospital in Bismarck, but his condition remained unknown as of midday Friday, the Sheriff’s Department stated.
During the incident, more than half a dozen law enforcement vehicles were present, and at least one officer was observed with a rifle drawn. North Dakota Highway Patrol Lieutenant Jenna Clawson Huibregtse confirmed that the northbound lanes of Highway 83 were closed for approximately one hour, with traffic diverted onto state Highway 36. The highway fully reopened around 10:30 a.m.
The Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department has initiated a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting. No further details were immediately released.
This incident occurred less than a week after a fatal head-on collision on the same highway south of Wilton. On February 8th, Doreen Hexom, 80, of Williston, and Portia Matthiesen, 21, of Bismarck, were killed when Hexom’s GMC Acadia crossed into the northbound lane and collided with Matthiesen’s Nissan Maxima, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Fog was cited as a contributing factor in that crash.