FRANKLIN COUNTY • The driver of a truck who was shot by police Wednesday night after the vehicle burst through a garage door and headed towards officers died hours later of his wounds, police said.
The man, Michael Goebel, 29, of Byrnes Mill, rammed several vehicles in an attempt to escape police before driving at officers, who fired at the truck, authorities said.
A passenger in the truck, Conrad Markmueller VI, 24, of High Ridge, also was shot by police, but his condition was not available Thursday.
“It was like a battlefield,” said Sgt. Al Nothum of the Highway Patrol, which took over the investigation of the shooting. “They plowed through several vehicles to try to get away.”
One officer suffered moderate injuries when he was struck by a car that Goebel’s vehicle rammed while trying to escape.
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The incident happened about 9:15 p.m. on Spring Drive, according to Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke.
Authorities said a multi-jurisdictional task force out of the St. Louis area was at the scene investigating a string of vehicle thefts across the metro area in recent months. Officers from St. Louis County, Jefferson County and Franklin County were involved.
As police surrounded a shed with a garage door, a truck parked inside was driven through the garage door. Authorities said the suspects’ truck, with Goebel, Markmueller and a female passenger inside, hit multiple cars as they tried to escape.
Their truck rammed another truck several times, trying to push it out of the way, then veered off and pushed a van about 20 feet down a driveway, Nothum said.
The truck then rammed another car, which was knocked into an officer, Nothum said. Police fired at the suspects’ car because they feared for their lives, he said.
Toelke said at least 10 law enforcement officers were at the scene at the time, and it wasn’t immediately clear which had shot the suspects.
Nothum said both suspects had warrants out for their arrest.
St. Louis County Police say Goebel was a suspect in a Christmas Day theft from Dave Sinclair Ford, 7466 South Lindbergh Boulevard. They said it was him in the widely shared surveillance video smashing through a service bay with a stolen F-350 truck and speeding away with two other trucks driven by people thought to be involved in the theft. Police were also investigating Goebel for his involvement in a theft from Jim Butler Chevrolet in Fenton.
A search of online court records showed that warrants were issued in October in Franklin County for Goebel’s arrest on felony charges of driving with a revoked license and receiving stolen property.
Markmueller, 24, had a felony drug possession case pending against him in Jefferson County. Court records show he had failed to appear in court last month.
Authorities on Thursday found seven stolen vehicles and a stolen trailer at the scene.
