Authorities are searching for a suspect who shot and killed a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 64 early today.
It’s believed Deputy Sean Riley was responding to a motorist assist call at the 115-mile marker of I-64, near the Burnt Prairie exit, shortly before 5 a.m. He was shot shortly after calling in license information on the vehicle.
The suspect then stole the deputy’s patrol vehicle. The patrol vehicle was later located on the interstate, leaving authorities to believe the suspect had fled on foot.
The deputy was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:07 a.m.
A massive manhunt is underway with a large section of I-64 shut down. Traffic was said to be at a standstill and was diverted off I-64 onto Illinois Route 1.
The suspect may already be out of the area, however. St. Peters, Mo., police report the suspect wanted in Riley’s death is apparently the same man who committed a carjacking at a gas station at 7 a.m., shooting the driver in the process. That victim has non life-threatening injuries.
Police said the suspect in the carjacking drove away and was later spotted on surveillance video in O’Fallon, Mo., in a white Nissan Titan truck with a Missouri license plate 0WEA43. It is unclear how the man got from Wayne County to St. Peters, but police said they found evidence at the gas station indicating it was the same man.
The suspect is described as a white man, last seen wearing a light gray hoodie, backpack, and black shoes. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the Vanderburgh County, Ind., Sheriff’s Office and the Evansville Police Department, helped escort the fallen deputy to the Vanderburgh County Morgue.