Armed suspect runs into Oglesville home, eludes authorities

OGLESVILLE — Authorities believe an armed suspect who fled into a rural Butler County residence Tuesday morning escaped before a perimeter could be set up around the home.

The home was found unoccupied when SWAT members from the Sikeston Department of Public Safety entered sometime after 3:15 p.m., said Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs. Entrance was made pursuant to a search warrant, he said.

“They didn’t find the suspect inside,” said Dobbs.

It is believed the suspect “went out a back window or the back deck” before additional officers arrived and the perimeter was set up, Dobbs said.

Despite not finding the suspect inside, Dobbs said, officers with his department and Missouri State Highway Patrol were continuing to search the multi-story home and surrounding property at about 5 p.m.

“That’s pretty much where we are at right now; searching for contraband” in the residence and on the property, Dobbs said.

The events began to unfold at about 9:40 a.m.

“It started as a traffic stop on a suspicious vehicle near a residence” in the 3100 block of Highway N, south of Qulin, explained Dobbs.

Two Butler County investigators, he said, initiated a traffic stop after seeing the vehicle had an altered tag.

Dobbs said the vehicle fled from the investigators, stopping behind a series of grain bins.

“A white male jumped out and ran into the residence,” said Dobbs.

The man, the sheriff said, was holding some type of handgun when he entered the home, which was located about 100 yards from grain bins on the same property.

“Someone inside the residence let him in,” Dobbs said.

Additional deputies and troopers responded and a perimeter was set up around the house, Dobbs said.

After about 30 minutes, the sheriff said, three people came out of the home, but not the armed suspect.

Those individuals, Dobbs said, gave investigators information as to who the suspect “might be. They gave a possible (identification), as well as they recognized him from his Department of Revenue photo.”

Dobbs said the individuals did not provide much information “other than he came running in.”

With officers still surrounding the perimeter Tuesday afternoon, Dobbs said, a fourth person came out after about four hours.