Patrol: Man Fatally Shot After Pulling Gun on Trooper

An eastern Missouri man has been fatally shot by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper after allegedly pulling a gun on the officer.

The shooting happened Wednesday near Sullivan, 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. The man killed was 44-year-old Joseph Weatherby of Sullivan.

Patrol spokesman Cody Fulkerson says the trooper initiated a traffic stop on an Interstate 44 service road one mile west of Sullivan. Weatherby sped across a parking lot of the Ditch Witch Groundbreaking Co.

After a brief chase, Fulkerson says Weatherby got out and ran, pointing a gun at the trooper during the foot chase. The trooper shot him once in the chest.

Weatherby died later Wednesday at a Sullivan hospital.

Fulkerson says Weatherby did not fire a shot. The trooper's name has not been released.

UPDATE: According to the MSHP, Weatherby was wanted on a felony warrant for probation violation out of St. Louis County PD, and a misdemeanor warrant for driving while revoked out of Crawford County - Steelville.

An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday in Columbia, Mo.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug Crime Control and the Crawford County Sheriff's Department continue to investigate.