St. Louis Officer, Car Theft Suspect Shoot it Out

A St. Louis police officer ran out of ammo in a shootout with a car theft suspect today and was forced to crawl to cover.

Dozens of shots were fired in the battle, but neither the suspect, a 23-year-old man with a prior robbery conviction, nor the officer was wounded.

The suspect escaped the scene of the gunfight in the officer's patrol car and drove away. He crashed into a house and was taken into custody.

St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the gun battle was related to an early-morning car theft in which a five-year-old boy was taken. The boy was found unharmed 20 minutes later and the car was abandoned.

Police told the paper that the suspect said he opened fire on the officer because he did not want to go back to jail.