Authorities looking for two carjacking suspects

SPARKS, Nev. - A police officer who came upon a kidnapping suspect sexually assaulting a victim believes he hit the suspect with a gun shot, but the suspect got away and a search continued today.

As many as 50 law enforcement officers and a police helicopter were searching for two suspects along Interstate 80 and the Truckee River east of the Reno-Sparks area.

The two men committed a carjacking and kidnapped the male and female in the car that was parked at Pah Rah Park in northeast Sparks about 4:30 p.m., police said.

The suspects threw the male out of the car as they drove down Vista Boulevard toward I-80 in Sparks and the male victim telephoned police.

The woman escaped when the Sparks police officer came upon the car during the alleged sexual assault near Lockwood, about 3 miles east of Sparks.

The officer shouted commands and the suspect drove the car at the officer, Washoe County Sheriff's Lt. Doug Gist said.

"The officer fired several shots at the suspect, but the suspect continued on," he said.

The car was found abandoned in a ditch and the suspect last was seen fleeing the Lockwood area on foot toward the Truckee River.

Both victims are safe.

Police searched all 500 homes in the Lockwood area overnight and have closed off access to some roads there this morning.

The suspects are considered dangerous and may be armed with a handgun.

The first suspect is described as a white male in his late thirties, about 6-foot-2 and skinny. He has long brown hair with a thin beard or goatee. He was wearing a baseball cap with blue jeans and a purple jacket.

The second suspect is described as between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10, wearing a black jacket with a red-hooded sweatshirt.

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