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Trooper Gunned Down in East Texas

KELLYVILLE, Texas — Law enforcement officials early Wednesday morning continued a multi-county manhunt across East Texas in search of a suspect who shot and killed a Department of Public Safety trooper involved in a high-speed chase Tuesday night.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the shooting occurred just before 8 p.m. near the intersection of Farm-to-Market roads 1969 and 729 just northeast of Lake O’ The Pines and west of Kellyville.

Authorities identified the trooper as James Scott Burns, who was 39 and married.

Mange said a citizen got on the trooper’s radio and called in to the dispatcher that Burns had been shot. Authorities are looking for a 1997 blue Dodge Intrepid with Texas license 039-LCG.

Kellyville is about 135 miles east of Dallas.

Before Tuesday, 82 DPS troopers had died in the line of duty. The last death came on March 14, 2007, when the patrol car of Trooper Todd Dylan Holmes was struck broadside by an 18-wheeler as he attempted to cross the highway to pursue a vehicle.

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