EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- An East St. Louis police officer was shot Sunday and evacuated to a hospital and his assailant fled on foot into the Orr Weathers Apartments, police said.
East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore identified the officer as Michael Baxton Jr., son of former East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Baxton Sr. Floore said Baxton, Jr. was in stable condition at an area hospital. Baxton was shot once in the face and is expected to survive.
At 9 p.m., some 40 or so members of a tactical response team went inside of Building D1 in the Orr Weathers housing project. A large number of police officers and S.W.A.T. were on the sixth floor of the building. Several more police were positioned outside an apartment where the suspect was believed to be hiding. They entered apartment 603 but did not find anyone inside, Floore confirmed.
Floore said that as of 10 p.m., the armed fugitive, whose identity was not released, was still on the loose. An Illinois State Police helicopter was searching the area with a spotlight.
Floore said three people were taken into custody for questioning, but the were not charged.
Elizabeth Tolliver, executive director of the East St. Louis Housing Authority, was elated over hearing news that the gunman was not in Building D1. Tolliver received a call about 2:30 p.m. from an employee telling her a policeman had been shot and police believed the gunman ran into the D1 building.
"I just hate that the residents had to be inconvenienced and away from their homes for such a long period of time. But, it's very understandable. The police wanted to make sure it was safe for the residents to return to their homes before they allowed them in the building," Tolliver said.
Earlier in the day, police radios everywhere blasted the tragic news -- an officer was shot in the line of duty.
Flashing lights from police cars lit up the area between 14th and 15th streets and Broadway. Sirens blared as police came to the area from every direction. Some ran as they jumped out of their cars. They had on camouflaged uniforms emblazoned with the word police boldly on their backs. Some had on helmets, like the one's the military use.
Everyone had on bullet-proof vests and most carried large rifles. Some had guns strapped around their thighs. Some of the officers had FBI boldly printed on their backs.
About 4:45 p.m., an unknown woman wearing purple rushed to the scene and frantically told police her daughter was inside the building. She said her daughter had just called her and requested that she get to the building. For several minutes she was in front of the building talking with police officers.
Baxton Jr. was shot about 3 p.m. Floore said East St. Louis police received a call that the suspect, who was wanted by police, was in the area and when Baxton Jr. tried to make a traffic stop, the suspect opened fire, Floore said.
Police evacuated the D1 building, and many of the residents complained they could not go back in but had nowhere else to go.
One resident said she was studying for a test at school today and would not be able to prepare properly. Others talked of being hungry and not being able to get any information from police about what was taking so long.
Tamia Jones said gunshots woke her up. When she heard the shots, she didn't think anything unusual was happening because she said people shoot in the Orr Weathers complex all of the time.
"That's every day. I have been here six years and I have seen too much," she said.
One resident said before police made her leave her apartment they showed her two different pictures of two different men. She said she didn't recognize either one.
Police officers from multiple agencies across the metro-east arrived on the scene to assist, including the FBI, Illinois State Police and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, Collinsville, Sauget, O'Fallon, Belleville, Washington Park, Centreville and Alorton police departments and the East St. Louis Park District police.
St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone said the officer was taken to St. Louis University Hospital.
Michael Baxton Sr. served two stints as police chief in East St. Louis. He resigned recently and pleaded guilty to stealing four Xbox gaming consoles in connection with a federal corruption investigation in Alorton, where he was chief before returning to East St. Louis. Baxton Jr. left Alorton, where was working as a police officer after East St. Louis laid him off, to return to East St. Louis, a short time after his father returned to head up the department.
Baxton Jr. was off for a period from East St. Louis after he severely injured himself in a motorcycle accident.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
