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Updated: 4:07 PM- A 27-year-old white supremacist was alone in an examination room with a 60-year-old corrections officer when he grabbed the cop's gun, fatally shot him in the head and escaped Monday morning, police said.

Police said they are unsure how the state-prison inmate got free of hand restraints or got hold of the officer's gun.

Curtis Michael Allgier, 27, was reporting for an MRI on the first floor of the University of Utah's Orthopedic Center for treatment of lower back and leg pain about 7:45 a.m., police said. A tussle ensued between Allgier and Corrections Officer Stephen Anderson, and Anderson ended up dead on the ground from a gunshot wound to the head.

Allgier ran out of the hospital's front entrance in his orange prison jumpsuit, gun in hand and free of ankle or wrist restraints, police said. He ran a half block and carjacked a Ford Explorer on Foothill Drive and went west, police said.

Officers staked out an address where a known associate of Allgier lived and spotted the Explorer in the area, about 900 West and 400 South, police said. Allgier then led police on a lengthy pursuit that reached speeds up to 100 mph on Interstate 15, Interstate 80 and Interstate 215 before ending at an Arby's restaurant at 17th South and Redwood Road about 8:30 a.m., police said.

Salt Lake City police officers chasing Allgier suffered minor injuries after wrecking in an intersection near 900 West and 300 South, Salt Lake City police Assistant Chief Scott Atkinson said.

Inside the Arby's, an employee and a customer fought with Allgier, police said. One man wrestled the handgun from Allgier and sustained a head injury in the process.

Allgier shot once inside the Arby's, and a Salt Lake City police officer fired once outside, police said. It was unclear who the officer -- at least 10 officers were at the scene -- was shooting at, police spokesman Sgt. Rich Brede said. Nobody was hit by those rounds. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shot fire by police.

Detective Gary Trost said he saw officers drag a man out of the Arby's. Police said they believe the same man wrestled the gun from Allgier.

Salt Lake City police arrested Allgier and were questioning him Monday afternoon, Brede said. Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller said she would consider a capital murder charge.

Department of Corrections head Tom Patterson said Anderson, a 22-year veteran corrections cop, appeared to follow all of the department's rules for transporting prisoners. He said only high-risk inmates required two officers during transport and Allgier was not considered high-risk. In other hospital locations, one officer looks over multiple inmates, who are put in a holding area, he said.

The prison transports about 15 inmates a day to hospital facilities at the university, Patterson said.

Patterson temporarily halted all prison transports pending an investigation. He said the department would review the rules that govern transports.

It was Allgier's third or fourth visit to the orthopedic center, Patterson said. Each time, one officer watched over Allgier pursuant to corrections policy, he said.

Police had not determined how Allgier got free of restraints, Patterson said. He would typically wear metal ankle and wrist cuffs when entering the hospital, he said.

At some point, the officer would have switched the wrist cuffs for plastic restraints and taken off the ankle restraints so Allgier could enter the MRI machine, Patterson said. It was unclear Monday afternoon if that had happened.

Allgier returned to prison Nov. 3 after two previous parole violations and a work-release violation. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office listed him as a weekly No. 1 most wanted on Nov. 2 for a parole violation and arrested him the next day, sheriff's spokesman Paul Jaroscak said. During the arrest, Allgier fell through the ceiling of a Midvale motel, possibly where he sustained the back injury he was being treated for, Jaroscak said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed a firearms charge on Nov. 3, according to court records.

Allgier, a member of the Arian Empire Warriors, had a "falling out" with other white-supremacy gang members in the prison system and was transferred to a single-bed cell at the maximum-security Uinta Four facility in Draper for his own safety, Patterson said. He was scheduled to be moved out of state to a federal prison for the gun charge, he said.

Corrections spokesman Jack Ford said white supremacists inside the prison were angry about comments Allgier made in the media.

A half dozen people inside the hospital heard at least one shot or saw Allgier running out of the hospital, said Scott Folsom, director of public safety for the university. But nobody saw the shooting or struggle with the officer, he said.

Police hoped evidence in the room and interviews with Allgier would paint at better picture of what happened, Atkinson said.

But with no camera inside the exam room, police may never fully know what happened, Folsom said.

"There are many questions we may not be able to answer," Folsom said.

-- Staff writers Nate Carlisle, Stephen Hunt, Pamel Manson and Ana Breton contributed to this report. rrizzo@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">rrizzo@sltrib.com