Bollinger County man still running in Texas manhunt

A massive manhunt for a Bollinger County man continued in a heavily wooded area in Southeast Texas late Tuesday. Police say Billy McGee and another area man shot at a Texas police officer after fleeing the Cape Girardeau area earlier this month.

Police in Hardin County, Texas, were looking for McGee, 44, Tuesday night with helicopters, horses and search dogs. Nineteen-year-old Josh Rogers was apprehended Friday and remains in custody. Cape Girardeau police said the men are from Zalma, Mo., in Bollinger County.

Hardin County is located about 100 miles northeast of Houston.

The men are wanted for stealing a car in Cape Girardeau, shooting at a Silsbee, Texas, police officer and killing at least five search dogs. McGee is thought to be armed and dangerous, police said.

Cape Girardeau police Capt. Carl Kinnison said the hunt for McGee started March 8 when police responded to a call at 709 S. Ellis St. Police found a vehicle owned by McGee. Kinnison said evidence in the car suggested methamphetamine was being manufactured in the car, but McGee wasn't there.

"We also were told that he had taken a shotgun and was armed," Kinnison said. "So we were looking for him."

A few days later, the man at that residence -- characterized as an acquaintance of McGee and Rogers by police -- reported that the two men stole his car.

Kinnison said officers were told to watch for the car and to consider McGee and Rogers armed and dangerous.

They didn't know how dangerous, however.

"We didn't have much on them at all," Kinnison said. "There were no previous arrests, at least not locally."

Then Cape Girardeau authorities on Friday were called by the Hardin County Sheriff's Department. Texas authorities said the stolen car had been stopped in Silsbee for traffic violation. Police there say one of the men fired a shotgun Friday at a Silsbee police officer but missed. It was not clear which man fired the shotgun.

"But they both escaped and fled and that's when this intensive manhunt began," Kinnison said.

The men led police on a chase through several streets, according to Texas television station KFDM. McGee and Rogers then apparently abandoned the stolen car.

That's when the search began, involving horses, a helicopter and search dogs. Police say the men shot and killed five search dogs, wounded three dogs and four are missing. On Saturday, police believed the men had fled the area and called off the search.

But on Monday, a bedridden man who lives near Silsbee called his wife to tell her a man had kicked in the door of their home and said he was one of the fugitives from Missouri. Rogers reportedly said he was hungry and ready to give himself up.

Kinnison said Rogers turned himself in without incident. He remain in the Hardin County Jail.

Rogers has been cooperating with police, Kinnison said, directing them to search a wooded area near Silsbee and saying that McGee has a sawed-off shotgun with three rounds left.

Kinnison said he's not sure there will be a warrant for the men in Cape Girardeau County.

"I would think Texas would want to keep them for awhile when they catch him," Kinnison said. "From our perspective, right now, the charges down there are significantly more serious than here. They're looking at attempted murder of a police officer."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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