Image via St. Louis County Police
Jason Cook is accused of shooting two Bellefontaine Neighbors police officers.
The man accused of shooting two Bellefontaine Neighbors police officers on Thursday has been charged with four felonies, including first-degree assault.
Jason Cook, 37, ducked into his home after shooting the two cops at 7:15 a.m. He then held police at bay for more than seven hours before he was finally taken into custody, authorities say.
The accused gunman was shot once in the chest at some point Thursday and was taken to a hospital after his arrest. He was alert and talking and was expected to recover, authorities say.
Investigators believe that Cook was firing into houses in his neighborhood on Wednesday night. Bellefontaine police on the scene that night suspected that Cook had been the shooter, but they didn't have enough information to take him into custody, according to St. Louis County police.
On Thursday morning, a neighbor called police again and told them Cook had left a house in the 10100 block of Bellefontaine Road. Two Bellefontaine cops — 44-year-old Sergeant Bryan Spieler and 25-year-old Officer Katherine Weiss — drove out to the neighborhood and stopped Cook near the intersection of Crete Drive, authorities say.
The interaction quickly grew heated, and the officers struggled with Cook before he pulled away and shot them both. Each officer was hit in the chest, but they were saved by their ballistics vests, police say.
One of the officers returned fire; it's not clear if that's when Cook was shot. He spent the following hours holed up in the brick ranch-style house, where he lives. The St. Louis County tactical operations unit surrounded the house and tried to speak to Cook through a loudspeaker. His only response was to open the back door around 11 a.m. and shoot his gun, authorities say.
An officer fired at Cook, which may also have been when he was hit, police say.
Two handguns were eventually recovered from the house. The officers were checked out at a hospital and released hours after they were shot.
Cook's bond was set at $150,000 cash only. He was charged with two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action.
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