A hostage situation on Interstate 80 near the Colorado/Nebraska state line ended this morning with a kidnapping suspect being shot and killed by police.
The suspect, Silvio Conrado, of Lancaster, Calif., robbed a Sutherland, Neb., couple at gunpoint in their home, took a man hostage and stole their car. He later stole a woman’s Ford Explorer at an interstate truck stop before being killed by a single shot from a Nebraska State Patrol SWAT officer.
The incident started at about 12:15 a.m. when Conrado’s car broke down near Sutherland, said Deb Collins, a state patrol spokeswoman.
Conrado took a 46-year-old Sutherland man hostage and stole a second car, the Explorer, near Paxton, Neb., keeping his hostage.
Authorities put down stop sticks to flatten the tires of the stolen SUV near Ogallala. At about 1:30 a.m. the Explorer stopped in the median of I-80 about a mile west of Big Springs, Neb.
A team of negotiators tried to get Conrado to let the hostage go, Collins said.
At about 6 a.m. an “agitated” Conrado got out of the Explorer with his hostage and was holding a gun to him when he was shot with a single round by a SWAT officer, he said.
The hostage was unharmed.
A Nebraska Grand Jury will be convened to investigate the police shooting, which is standard procedure, Collins said.
