Illinois police shooting suspect killed after weeklong manhunt

ST. LOUIS — A man suspected in the shooting of a police officer during a traffic stop has been shot and killed in southern Illinois in an incident that also left an FBI agent wounded, Illinois State Police said.

Dracy “Clint” Pendleton, of Bellflower, Ill., was killed in a shootout early Sunday at an abandoned house near the Shawnee National Forest, police said in an emailed statement.

“Pendleton is no longer a threat to the communities of southern Illinois,” the statement said.

The name and condition of the wounded federal agent was not immediately disclosed. The News-Gazette cited FBI special agent Sean Cox saying the injured agent “is going to be OK.”

Pendleton was charged with attempted murder in the May 7 shooting of a police officer in Mahomet, Illinois. The incident also sparked a fatal collision when a trooper pursuing Pendleton struck and killed a 26-year-old woman in Decatur, some 45 miles to the southwest.

The manhunt lasted for more than a week. Authorities had closed off a portion of the national forest since May 9 when authorities in the area found a stolen pickup truck they believed Pendleton was using.

State police said Pendleton was seen just after midnight running into woods near a church cemetery, carrying a rifle and wearing a bandolier shoulder belt that holds bullet cartridges. He was found inside the home about a half-mile away around 5 a.m., when a firefight with state police and FBI officers ensued.

A relative has said Pendleton, the father of two sons, both under 2, had recently separated from his wife and moved out of their home.

Authorities say Pendleton shot a police officer in the arm during a traffic stop initiated by a different police officer. He was treated and released from a hospital the following morning.