Bellflower man shot and killed in gunfight with police

Dracy Pendleton
Illinois State Police say Dracy ‘Clint’ Pendleton was shot and killed on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Illinois State Police)

By Eric Stock

EDDYVILLE – Illinois State Police have shot and killed the Bellflower man who had been on the lam for more than a week after shooting a police officer in Mahomet.

Police say Dracy “Clint” Pendleton, 35, was killed in a shootout in an abandoned house near Eddyville in northern Pope County near the Shawnee National Forest early Sunday morning. An FBI agent was also wounded in the incident as an officer and Pendleton had exchanged gunfire before the suspect was killed.

The FBI SWAT operator’s name and condition haven’t been released, but he is expected to survive.

Prosecutors in Champaign County had charged Pendleton with attempted murder in the non-fatal shooting on a police officer on May 7. The police search for Pendleton also led to a fatal crash in Decatur as a state trooper collided with a van driven by a 26-year-old Decatur woman who died in the crash.

Police say agencies involved include Illinois State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Coast Guard, Pope, Hardin, Massac, Johnson, Williamson County Sheriff’s Departments and Paducah, Kentucky Police Department.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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