A 19-year-old man accused of stealing a police cruiser in Poplar and firing at a tribal police officer with a shotgun early Thursday is being held on a charge of attempted murder.

Ken Trottier, supervisor of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Fort Peck Department of Law and Justice, said Leroy Youpee III was in custody after shooting at tribal police officer Heather Daniels.

The incident began when Poplar city police officer Ryan Beston arrested Youpee on a domestic-disturbance call. With Youpee, who appeared to be inebriated, handcuffed and shackled in the back seat of the police cruiser, Beston went into the tribal jail in Poplar to arrange to have Youpee held there.

At 5:09 a.m., Youpee managed to climb into the front seat of the police car, which had no grate between the front and back seats, and drive off.

Trottier said Youpee got several blocks away before crashing into a tree at B Street and Third Avenue West. He took a police shotgun from the vehicle and fled on foot.

Beston, Daniels and two other tribal officers got to the scene within moments of the crash, and Daniels pursued Youpee, not knowing he had a shotgun, Trottier said.

Officer Daniels and Youpee were about 19 feet apart when she deployed her Taser stun gun and Youpee fired the shotgun almost simultaneously.

The shotgun slug missed Daniels, but she was struck in the stomach by the shell’s wadding. The Taser prongs hit Youpee in the torso, Trottier said, and “it put him down.” Youpee was incapacitated, and the other officers were able to take him into custody.

Trottier said the shotgun was fully loaded, with four slugs in the tube and one in the chamber, so if Youpee hadn’t been hit with the Taser, he potentially could have fired off more rounds. He said Daniels was lucky she wasn’t hit by the first slug.

“Nineteen feet — you pretty much have to want to miss at that range,” he said.

Youpee was taken to the jail in Poplar. Daniels was treated for superficial injuries at the Poplar hospital and released.

Trottier said Youpee is being held on a charge of attempted murder in tribal court, and on a separate charge of assault with a dangerous weapon by the Criminal Investigation Unit and the FBI, which is assisting with the investigation.

Poplar Police Chief Chad Hilde referred all questions to Trottier, who he said was in charge of the investigation.