Man killed by Nevada deputy was North Dakota fugitive

HAWTHORNE — A man shot and killed by a Mineral County sheriff’s deputy was a fugitive from North Dakota who failed to report to prison after being convicted of stealing and transporting weapons, federal authorities said Thursday.

Drew Wrigley, the U.S. attorney for North Dakota, said Kelly Stenstrum, 31, died in Hawthorne “as a result of contact with law enforcement.”

The Nevada Department of Public Safety did not immediately identify the man killed Tuesday during a confrontation with deputies.

But Nevada officials said he was under investigation by numerous federal, state and law enforcement agencies.

Authorities allege he committed four home burglaries in the southern Nevada town of Mesquite, where he stole and Cadillac and headed north on U.S. 95.

He was stopped by a Highway Patrol Trooper, but fled into Hawthorne.

He was shot Tuesday after failing to obey orders to surrender and put down his weapon, authorities said.

Investigators said several shots were fired. No officers were injured.

The name of the deputy involved in the shooting was not immediately released.

Stenstrum was sentenced in July to nearly three years behind bars, three years of supervised release and restitution totaling nearly $22,700 after pleading guilty in April to three felony charges.

Authorities said he stole 33 guns in North Dakota from the Grand Forks Home of Economy store and seven guns from a private gun dealer last year, selling some of them in Wisconsin.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Stenstrum in August failed to report to a New Jersey prison where he was to serve his sentence, and had been considered armed and dangerous.