MILL SHOALS, Ill. (AP) – Authorities in two states are searching for a gunman who killed an eastern Illinois deputy early Wednesday and is suspected in a carjacking in neighboring Missouri a couple of hours later.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that Deputy Sean Riley responded to a motorist assist call on Interstate 64 near Mill Shoals around 5 a.m. Wednesday. A second officer who arrived at the scene found Riley dead. The deputy’s squad car was later found abandoned on I-64.
The search for the suspect extended to St. Peters, Missouri, where police believe a man involved in a shooting and carjacking shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday at a QuikTrip convenience store was the same person who killed the deputy.
St. Peters police said the man drove away from the convenience store in a car that was later found near Interstate 70 in nearby O’Fallon, Missouri. The suspect then stole a white pickup truck, police said.
The Missouri carjacking victim was hospitalized with injuries police described as not life-threatening.