This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
ELKO, Nev. • A Nevada sheriff says a deputy wounded five times in a shootout with a man firing a rifle from the roof of a home in Wells is improving after surgery at a Salt Lake City hospital.
Elko County Sheriff Jim Pitts tells the Elko Daily Free Press that he spoke Sunday with Deputy Lenwood VanNatter at the University of Utah Hospital, and that VanNatter was doing well despite chest, hip and leg injuries.
The accused gunman, 43-year-old Peter Mark Coca, surrendered early Saturday.
Pitts says Coca was taken to Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital and then to the Nevada State Prison infirmary in Carson City for treatment of unspecified medical complications.
Coca's wife, 39-year-old Tracie Ann Coca, was arrested and accused of helping her husband elude officers after the shooting.