Illinois police officer dies after shooting near St. Louis

Police investigate the scene of a shooting on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, at the Speedway gas station in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. Authorities say a man shot and fatally wounded a police officer Tuesday at the station. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
Police investigate the scene of a shooting on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, at the Speedway gas station in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. Authorities say a man shot and fatally wounded a police officer Tuesday at the station. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

PONTOON BEACH, Illinois (AP) - A police officer died Tuesday after being shot by a man at gas station in an Illinois suburb of St. Louis, authorities said.

Trooper Jayme Bufford with Illinois State Police said Pontoon Beach Officer Tyler Timmons succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.

The officer was shot at around 8 a.m. at a Speedway gas station along Route 111 and was rushed to Saint Louis University Hospital. Bufford said the Pontoon Beach officer had approached a car in the gas station's parking lot because he suspected it had been stolen, and that a man began firing on him. The suspect was taken into custody.

Illinois State Police are investigating.

Bufford did not immediately release additional information, saying that "the investigation is in its infancy."

Police spokesman Michael Fillback in Edwardsville, a neighboring community, told KSDK-TV that "we would ask the public for their prayers for the officer, his family and the Pontoon Beach Police Department."