Vehicle owner shoots, wounds suspect trying to steal his SUV

A Cape Girardeau resident shot and wounded a male juvenile who was attempting to steal his SUV in the 400 block of South Minnesota Street near Jefferson Elementary School on Monday night.

Cape Girardeau police subsequently took the suspect into custody. Police Sgt. Joey Hann said Tuesday the suspect is from Cape Girardeau, but he declined to give the age of the suspect because “the case is still active.”

According to a news release from Hann, police at 6:05 p.m. Monday responded to the 400 block of Sheridan Drive after a passenger car was reported stolen.

Officers searched the area and “quickly located” the suspect driving the stolen vehicle near Minnesota and Good Hope streets, the news release said.

Hann wrote, “Officers initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle, but the suspect failed to yield to officers and then fled from the car on foot.”

A squad car from the Cape Girardeau Police Department sits in the parking lot at Jefferson Elementary School as officers investigate the scene of a shooting Monday in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

The suspect then attempted to steal an SUV on South Minnesota Street, but was thwarted by the vehicle’s owner, according to Hann.

The vehicle’s owner and the suspect “engaged in a physical altercation and the suspect eventually drew a handgun and fired several shots at the vehicle owner,” the news release said.

The vehicle owner then retrieved his own handgun and “fired shots back at the suspect. The suspect was struck once in the left hip,” the release stated.

Hann wrote the suspect received medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

Both vehicles have been recovered and no one else was injured in the incident.

The incident remains under investigation, Hann said.

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