Illinois police officer dies after shooting near St. Louis

PONTOON BEACH, Ill. — A police officer was shot to death Tuesday by a man at a gas station in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis, authorities said.

Trooper Jayme Bufford with Illinois State Police said Pontoon Beach Officer Tyler Timmons succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.

The officer was shot around 8 a.m. at a Speedway gas station along Route 111 and was rushed to a hospital in nearby Granite City before being transferred a St. Louis hospital that specializes in the most critical cases, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Bufford said Timmons 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.

The vehicle that apparently sparked the officer’s interest was a stolen Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with Missouri license plates.

Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting.

Bufford did not immediately release additional information, saying that “the investigation is in its infancy.”

Edwardsville Police Chief Michael Fillback said officers throughout the area are filling in on patrol for Pontoon Beach because that city’s officers were so shaken by the shooting.