An Illinois teenager is in juvenile custody after allegedly breaking into a Butler County woman's home early this morning and stealing multiple TVs and her SUV, which he later crashed in a pursuit with authorities.
At about 2:20 a.m., the Butler County Sheriff's Department received a call from a woman who reported sounds indicating a door had been kicked in and people were inside her home in the 700 block of County Road 467, explained Chief Deputy Wes Popp.
After hearing what Popp described as a commotion downstairs, "she (the woman) closed her bedroom door, grabbed her firearm and fired a shot through her bedroom door," Popp said.
When deputies arrived, he said, they found a window broken and the back door to the home open.
"They made contact with the female and found three of her TVs were missing, and they discovered her (Chevrolet) Tahoe was missing," Popp said.
Once given a description of the missing SUV, "they realized they had passed the vehicle" on the way to the home, Popp said.
Deputy Lacy Gipson, Popp said, subsequently saw the SUV drive past the residence.
Popp said Gipson went after the vehicle, "got behind it; that's when he heard them accelerate" and begin traveling at a high rate of speed.
At one point, Popp said, deputies lost sight of the SUV during the pursuit.
The Poplar Bluff Police Department also was notified about the pursuit, and its officers intercepted the SUV, which "the suspect ended up wrecking (while) trying to get away and (the suspects) fled on foot," Popp said.
City officers, he said, intercepted the SUV near the intersection of Maud Street and Roxie Road.
"The city was quick, they got them just as they were coming off Roxie," Popp said.
City and county officers, according to Popp, set up a perimeter around the crash site in the 1900 block of Summit Avenue and called for Cpl. Bo Skinner and canine, Bojar.
Skinner and Bojar, Popp said, tracked the suspect, later identified as a 16-year-old East St. Louis, Ill., resident, from the SUV to where he was found hiding in the back seat of an unlocked car a short distance away behind a residence in the 1800 block of West Maud Street.
Once it was determined the suspect was a teenager, Butler County juvenile authorities were notified, and he was taken to the juvenile detention center at Bloomfield, Mo., for lodging.
The teen is being held on suspicion of first-degree burglary, first-degree tampering, resisting arrest and stealing, as well as a St. Clair County, Ill., warrant for probation violation on an original armed robbery charge.
"We think there was more than one person because he asked who else was arrested," Popp said.
Authorities reported hearing multiple people running in the woods, and the victim also reported hearing multiple subjects and saw what appeared to be flashlights illuminating her home.
After the teen was apprehended, Popp said, the TVs allegedly taken from the home were found in the back of the SUV.
Authorities say two loaded magazines also were found on the ground near the SUV, as well as two flashlights.
There was no gun or magazines stolen from the home, so, Popp said, authorities believe at least "one was armed" in the house.
Deputies, he said, planned to return to the area in the daylight to search for the gun.