A man has been arrested after killing a police officer, holding a trucker against their will, and going on a crime spree in Illinois on Wednesday.
The incident happened on December 29th in Wayne County, Illinois.
According to a press release regarding the incident, “preliminary reports indicate that Deputy Sean Riley of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a motorist assist on Interstate 64.” A short time later another officer responding to reports of an officer-involved shooting “located Deputy Riley deceased on scene,” with his squad car nowhere to be found.
The deceased deputy’s squad car was located near the scene a short time later.
ABC 7 News reports that the suspect in the officer shooting, 40-year-old Ray Tate, then carjacked a semi truck near where the squad car was found and forced the trucker to drive him to a nearby gas station in Missouri, where he then proceeded to commit a series of crimes.
“The driver of the truck tractor semi-trailer was held against his will and drove Tate to a gas station in St Peter’s, Missouri,” the release said. “While in Missouri, a series of carjackings, robberies and shootings occurred.”
Tate then allegedly traveled back to Illinois in a stolen vehicle with a kidnapped victim and ended up at a home in rural Clinton County, where he took the kidnapped victim and the homeowner hostage in the house.
Just before 2 p.m, a SWAT team was able to enter the home and take Tate into custody “without incident,” and “the homeowner and kidnapped victim were located in the residence uninjured.”
Tate has since been taken to Clinton County Jail and charged with first-degree murder.