PONTOON BEACH, Ill. (AP) — A man shot and seriously wounded a police officer Tuesday at a gas station in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis, authorities said.
The Pontoon Beach officer was shot at around 8 a.m. at a Speedway gas station along Route 111 near its junction with Interstate 270 and was rushed to Saint Louis University Hospital, police said.
Michael Fillback, the police chief in neighboring Edwardsville, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the officer was in “bad shape.”
State Police Trooper Jayme Bufford told the newspaper that the Pontoon Beach officer had approached a car in the gas station's parking lot because he suspected it had been stolen, and that a man began firing on him.
The suspect was taken into custody, said the State Police, who are investigating the shooting.
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Edwardsville police spokesman Michael Fillback told KSDK-TV that he didn't know the wounded officer’s condition and that police were trying to determine what led to the shooting.
“We would ask the public for their prayers for the officer, his family and the Pontoon Beach Police Department," Fillback said.
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