Mt. Vernon Police say an early Christmas morning shooting was followed by a high-speed wrong-way police chase and crash on I 57-64.
20-year-old Maliq Petties was eventually taken into custody and is being held in the Jefferson County Justice Center on charges of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm, Aggravated Fleeing / Attempting to Elude, Armed Violence, Resisting Arrest, Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and a Franklin County warrant.
Mt. Vernon Police say the series of incidents began at 12:53 Christmas morning when an officer on patrol in the 300 block of South 9th Street observed a man later identified as Petties fire a handgun and shoot another person.
The officer approached Petties and began giving him commands. Police say Petties refused to comply and began to flee in a vehicle. Officers began a vehicle pursuit of Petties through Mt Vernon reaching 100 miles per hour on Broadway on the west side of town. Petties then began traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Interstate 57 from Illinois 15. Just south of the north split, police say Petties lost control of his vehicle. While doing so, Petties’ vehicle struck a Mt Vernon squad car causing moderate damage to both.
Police say Petties exited his vehicle and began to flee on foot. During the foot pursuit, Petties reached into his waistband which prompted a pursuing officer to fire a single shot. No one was struck by the shot. Officers were eventually able to overtake Petties and take him to the Jefferson County Justice Center where he is being held without bond.
A firearm was located at the scene.
Two officers were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Both officers were treated and released.
The victim of the shooting, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. He was later transported to a St Louis area hospital.
The Illinois State Police were called to investigate the discharge of the officer’s firearm and traffic accident. Mt. Vernon Police say this is a common practice for officer-involved shooting incidents and Illinois law requires an outside agency to investigate officer-involved shootings.
