****UPDATE: Authorities said just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday that 20-year-old Tyler Lloyd Grantz, of Kernersville, had been arrested in connection with this incident. The soft lockdowns that were in place at area schools have been lifted.****

Authorities are searching for a suspect in Orange County Tuesday morning who allegedly fired multiple shots at a North Carolina State trooper.

North Carolina Highway Patrol officials said that a trooper attempted to stop a 2008 GMC SUV for a speeding violation on I-40 in Orange County around 2 a.m. Tuesday. A pursuit occurred after the suspect refused to stop.

“During the pursuit, the driver of the SUV fired multiple shots at the trooper’s vehicle,” according to NCSHP officials.

The driver crashed down an embankment near I-40 and New Hope Church Road, law enforcement officials said, before fleeing the scene on foot.

Multiple agencies from across Orange County are assisting in the search.

Authorities said the trooper was not hurt in the gunfire.

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said several schools – New Hope Elementary, AL Stanback Middle, Morris Grove Elementary and Partnership Academy – are under a soft lockdown Tuesday morning. There is expected to be an increased law enforcement presence at the schools. Deputies and troopers are “shadowing” school buses along their routes Tuesday morning, Blackwood said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation. Anyone with information or seeing anything suspicious in the area near the scene is asked to call 911 or the sheriff’s office at (919) 245-2900.

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