FBI agent wounded in Ill. shootout; police shooting suspect killed

A week-long manhunt for a suspect who wounded an Illinois police officer ended Sunday in a shootout more than 200 miles south that wounded an FBI agent and left the suspect dead.

Police in southern Illinois said that after the shootout, a police robot entered an abandoned house in near Eddyville, Ill., near the Kentucky border, and found the body of Dracy “Clint” Pendleton on the second story. Officials did not immediately say whether he was killed by police or himself.

"Dracy Clint Pendleton is no longer a threat," Illinois State Police Captain Bill Sons told reporters Sunday afternoon.

The manhunt began May 7, after Pendleton allegedly shot a police officer in the arm in Mahomet, Ill., near Champaign, during a traffic stop.

Police said a fleeing Pendleton got an assault rifle from his home, stole a truck from a rock quarry and drove south into the Lusk Creek Wilderness area in southeast Missouri. The search focused on the Shawnee National Forest area after a resident spotted Pendleton there.

State police said a SWAT team member spotted Pendleton running with a rifle and ammunition bandolier from a church cemetery south into dense woods. Early Sunday, when police approached an abandoned house about a half-mile away, Pendleton opened fire, police said.

Officers shot back and a member of an FBI SWAT team was wounded.

Pendleton, a father of two who lived in Bellflower, Ill., died at the scene.

Court records show that in February 2012, he was arrested in Pope County, Ill., after he threatened someone with a gun. He was initially charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, stalking and four counts of criminal trespass, the Courier & Press reported. He pleaded guilty in November 2012 to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault. Pendleton drew a 30-day jail sentence and was ordered to pay $3,000.

Pendleton had been charged with attempted murder in the May 7 shooting, which also sparked a fatal collision when a trooper pursuing him struck and killed a 26-year-old who was driving her van in Decatur, Ill.
The manhunt closed a portion of the national forest for nearly a week.

The officers in both shootings were treated and released.

The FBI agent, not identified, was flown from the scene to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville and later transferred to a hospital in St. Louis. "The FBI agent will be OK," said Sean Cox, Special Agent in Charge of the Springfield, Ill. Bureau. "We are incredibly grateful that the Mahomet police officer is going to be OK and the FBI agent will be OK."

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