Shooter on Missouri S&T Campus
Posted Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 9:38am | UPDATED: May 12, 2011 at 11:16am
The university stated no shots were fired and the shooter, identified as 31 year old Cody Nathaniel Willcoxon, had left the campus.
By Scott Kanowsky
City of Rolla communications officer Scott Grahl said Willcoxon first arrived to the front gate of Fort Leonard Wood army base at 8:36 Thursday morning “armed with an AK-47.”
After being questioned by officials at Fort Leonard Wood, Willcoxon left the area in a “silver car” heading east on I-44 and “shot at” law enforcement officials in pursuit. Grahl said Willcoxon was forced to detour off the road and into Rolla after metal spike strips were put down. Grahl was unable to say if Willcoxon drove over the spikes.
Willcoxon was then pursued by Rolla Police Department officers while shooting and stopped in front of McNutt Hall on the Missouri S&T campus.
From there, Grahl says Willcoxon fled on foot with a “long rifle,” broke into, and drove away in a resident’s car–described by Grahl as a gray 2003 Ford Taurus with the license plate ROLLAB.
Grahl says Willcoxon has not been seen since, however officials are still in pursuit.
Grahl insisted that Willcoxon’s “long rifle” has law enforcement worried the suspect could have “had more than one weapon in his silver vehicle.”
“All I can tell you is at the the subject is still at large and we’re still pursuing him,” an official from the Rolla Police Department said.
The university placed the Missouri S&T campus on lockdown and ordered students to stay indoors.
No injuries have yet been reported.
Missouri S&T and Grahl said the suspect was last seen wearing a blue and white striped t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and was bleeding from one hand.
He was last seen on White Columns Dr., a neighborhood north of the Missouri S&T campus, the university said in a press release.
Grahl said Rolla’s mayor, the Chiefs of Police of Rolla and Missouri S&T, and a Missouri Highway Patrol Troop Commander will give further updates at a press conference around 1 pm.
http://www.kbia.org/news/shooter-on-missouri-st-campus
Being questioned by officials at Ft Leonard Wood —according to AP, it means the guard examined his ID and found it lacking.
Willcoxon left the area, according to AP, after he accelerated through the gate and drove onto the base where he was pursued by military police until he drove off the base. This is apparently where the local law enforcement took over and were shot at.