UPDATED: Sheriff Dexter Lunceford has released the identity of the suspect who was killed.

A suspect is dead following a police pursuit and exchange of gunfire with police officers on a busy highway.

Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford confirmed that deputies with his department were involved in a shootout with the suspect. “We did have an officer-involved shooting,” he said.

Lunceford identified the suspect as 47-year-old Buford Whitson, of Elizabethton. He was taken to the Johnson City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

According to Lunceford, the pursuit and standoff with Whitson were part of an ongoing investigation into a domestic violence incident earlier in the day on Monday at a home in the Big Springs community.

Officers located the Whitson’s vehicle and a pursuit ensued through Elizabethton and onto Highway 67 before coming to an end in Johnson City near the exit from Highway 67 onto the Milligan Highway and Legion Street.

Lunceford said the incident is being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and additional information will be released as it becomes available from agents with the TBI.