WESTON, W.Va. — A man who fired a gun on an interstate highway in northern West Virginia wounded a sheriff’s deputy before being killed by law enforcement Thursday, police said.

The shooting occurred on Interstate 79 near the Weston exit. Upshur County Sheriff Virgil Miller said the man stopped his SUV in the northbound lanes just before 11 a.m. and started shooting at motorists, The Exponent Telegram reported.

An Upshur County emergency management official spotted the suspect and called police. An Upshur County sheriff's deputy who was trying to stop traffic was shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery, Miller said.

Miller said officers then fatally shot the suspect, whose name was not immediately released. State Police are handling the investigation. A State Police spokesman did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. The Upshur County sheriff's office referred questions to the Lewis County sheriff's office, which did not immediately return a telephone message.

The shooting prompted the interstate to be closed in both directions for several hours.