Holts Summit youth in custody after killing grandmother

Holts Summit Police Chief Kyle McIntyre speaks with a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer Friday beside northbound Highway 54. On Friday morning, a highway patrol vehicle hit a suspect that was firing a weapon as he walked on Highway 54, the patrol reported.
Holts Summit Police Chief Kyle McIntyre speaks with a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer Friday beside northbound Highway 54. On Friday morning, a highway patrol vehicle hit a suspect that was firing a weapon as he walked on Highway 54, the patrol reported.

A Holts Summit youth faces a string of charges, including murder and assaulting law enforcement after allegedly killing his 60-year-old grandmother and shooting at law enforcement officers in Holts Summit Friday.

Ryan Wayne Koebel, 17, is accused of fatally stabbing and shooting his grandmother, Karen Cates, Friday morning before leaving their home armed with a .38 caliber handgun which he later used to shoot at Missouri State Highway Patrol and Holts Summit Police Department officers as he walked along Highway 54.

Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson filed charges of one count first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and four counts of armed criminal action against Koebel Saturday morning.

According to the probable cause statement, the Emergency Operations Center in Fulton received a 911 call from Cates' husband, Ronald Cates, at 10:29 a.m. Friday that he had returned home to discover his wife had been stabbed and his grandson - who had been at the home when Ronald Cates had left earlier - was no longer there and that a .38 caliber handgun was missing from the residence.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.