PENN TWP — Authorities say an Allegheny County man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after leading police on a vehicle chase through two municipalities in southern Butler County.

The 28-year old man, of Allison Park, shot himself in the head with a semi-automatic pistol about 1 a.m. on Route 8 in Penn Township following the 6½-mile chase that started in Middlesex Township.

Authorities did not immediately release the man’s name.

State police, who are handling the investigation, suspect alcohol was involved. Investigators also believe that earlier that night the man was involved in an apparent domestic dispute with his girlfriend in the Pittsburgh area.

A Middlesex Township police officer was conducting speed enforcement on Route 8 near Mystic Lanes when the officer first spotted the man’s pickup truck, said Trooper James Long.

The officer, with emergency lights and siren on, attempted to make a traffic stop but the man continued northbound.

Another Middlesex officer was pulled over on the east berm of Route 8, having made an unrelated traffic stop, when the speeding truck approached the parked cruiser.

Long said investigators believe the man saw the cruiser and intentionally swerved toward it, sideswiping the police car. No one was injured.

The second officer then joined in the chase. The man eventually pulled over near Airport Road.

“He got out of the vehicle with a 9 mm (pistol) and shot himself,” Long said.

The trooper noted that police found “multiple guns” in the truck.

Butler County Chief Deputy Coroner John Hanovick pronounced the man dead at 1:29 a.m. The preliminary cause of death is listed as a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

Hanovick said an autopsy would be performed later today. Toxicology tests, standard procedure in autopsies, will also be conducted as part of the investigation.