Cop-Shooting Fugitive Dies in Gun Battle with State Police and FBI

A desperate run from the law for a man who shot a small-town Illinois police officer ended in the Shawnee National Forest after a gun battle with the FBI and State Police.

Dracy "Clint" Pendleton is dead. An FBI agent was wounded in Sunday morning's shootout but is expected to recover.

Pendleton opened fire on a Mahomet police officer in the early morning hours of May 7 after getting into an altercation with the officer following a traffic stop. The officer was shot in the arm. Pendleton then fled, armed with an AK-47, and stole a truck. A massive search throughout Champaign County and nearby areas ensued, but Pendleton slipped away.

The truck was spotted in Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois on May 9, prompting authorities to close part of the area to the public. Pendleton was found in an abandoned house in the forest.

Just after midnight Sunday, Pendleton — carrying a rifle and a shoulder-belt of ammo — was seen running into the woods near a church cemetery, according to State Police. At about 5 a.m., police tracked him to the abandoned house and the gunfight began.

Kunath and police suspect Pendleton was in the woods watching the police response. Around midnight, he was spotted and tracked. An FBI SWAT unit surrounded the house.

Kunath, who lives about a mile away from the spot where Pendleton died, told the News-Gazette he suspected the helicopters and explosions he heard early that morning had something to do with the fugitive.

"I could hear the shooting and the flash bombs they was dropping," Kunath said, adding that a helicopter "was going around in circles dropping it all around us."

The FBI agent was shot as authorities approached the abandoned house, police said.

Police did not reveal whether Pendleton was shot by police or shot himself during the gunfight. A remote-controlled robot was sent into the house and found Pendleton's body with an automatic rifle by his side, police said.

Pendleton, 34, of Bellflower, Illinois, had a criminal record, including convictions for unlawful use of weapons and aggravated assault. He recently separated from his wife and two young children.

"I know he did wrong," his father, also named Dracy Pendleton, said last week in an interview with the News-Gazette as police searched the forest. He contemplated going to southern Illinois to try to help persuade his son to surrender. "I just wish I could put a blanket around him."

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