A man was killed early Saturday after he fired shots at authorities during a high-speed chase, crashed and then ran into a field near Strasburg and engaged officers in a final shootout.

The name of the suspect, who was pronounced dead near the Strasburg exit on Interstate 70, has not been released.

The Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputy who fired the fatal gunshot has been placed on paid administrative leave pending completion of an investigation by the 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Team, Capt. Jared Rowlinson said at a news conference.

“There was a significant danger to the deputy as well as to the general public,” Rowlinson said. “We’re lucky that no officer was hit or injured in this incident.”

Meantime, a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy stopped an unrelated chase of a separate fleeing suspect on I-70 just east of Strasburg when that suspect approached the scene of the fatal shooting.

That suspect later crashed the car 19 miles away, fled on foot and hasn’t been found.

Colorado State Patrol troopers were called at 6:26 a.m. about a silver sedan with New Mexico license plates that had crashed on westbound I-70 about 14 miles east of Strasburg, said Trooper Timothy Sutherland, a spokesman for CSP. Arapahoe County sheriff’s deputies also responded to the scene.

At 7:20 a.m. a CSP trooper spotted a man walking beside the highway and stopped the patrol car. The man pulled out a handgun and ran into the middle of the highway in an attempt to flag people down, Rowlinson said.

A Chevrolet Tahoe pulled over, and the suspect pointed a gun at the driver and a passenger and ordered them out of the SUV.

The suspect took the SUV and sped west. The trooper followed the man at speeds of more than 100 mph, Rowlinson said.

“Shots were fired by the suspect during the chase,” Sutherland said.

State troopers deployed stop sticks on the highway. The sticks are studded with spikes to deflate car tires.

One of the SUV’s tires was flattened. On three wheels, the suspect took the westbound Strasburg exit ramp.

While still on the ramp, a trooper rammed the SUV, pushing it down an embankment.

“He ran out into the field and fired shots at officers,” Sutherland said.

The unnamed deputy returned fire and fatally shot the man, Rowlinson said.

Law enforcement officers from the Adams County Sheriff’s Department and the Aurora Police Department also were involved in the case.

The suspect in the second car chase was driving a stolen brown Nissan, registered in Longmont, when the Lincoln County deputy began chasing the car.

At 8:09 a.m., the deputy stopped pursuing the stolen car 10 miles from Strasburg after clocking the vehicle at 118 mph.

Authorities believe a 27-year-old man named Adrian Charles Littlebear was driving the vehicle. Littlebear has not been found.

Longmont police charged Littlebear with misdemeanor counts of child abuse on April 3 and violation of a restraining order on April 8.

Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, denverpost.com/coldcases or twitter.com/kirkmitchell