Sikeston policeman shot

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston police detective was recovering at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau late Wednesday after robbery suspects reportedly shot him in a calf before fleeing their hideout in a cloud of smoke.

Lt. Mark Crocker was one of several officers who tracked two armed men after they robbed Super D Drug Store on North Main Street in Sikeston around noon Wednesday, making off with prescription drugs. Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell said the robbers broke through the back door of a house at 106 Little St. just north of the Sikeston city limits and hid until police arrived.

They apparently shot from the window before a fire forced them from the house around 1 p.m. They surrendered to police without further trouble. Ferrell said he didn't know how the fire started.

The suspects were in the Scott County Jail, and their names were withheld pending charges. Ferrell said the two are from central Missouri and have no connection to the area or the home they invaded.

"There was no rhyme or reason to it," he said. "We are so lucky that we know who did it and got them in custody pretty quickly. The witnesses to the armed robbery were alert enough to get the license number."

He declined to discuss other details, saying those issues would be addressed at a 9 a.m. media conference today.

Crocker was flown to Southeast after the shooting. Hospital officials wouldn't confirm he is a patient there, but several Sikeston police cars were outside. Four men gathered outside the emergency room said Crocker was there.

"He's fine," said one man who did not give his name but identified himself as being with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. "He's doing OK. He just had a little surgery today. We'll know more tomorrow."

Back from banking

Crocker, a veteran of the force, took a hiatus from public service to oversee security measures for all First National Bank locations, including the one in Cape Girardeau. He returned to the Sikeston Department of Public Safety earlier this year after police chief Drew Juden was promoted to the top post.

Crocker's former co-workers were stunned to hear he was hurt. Elizabeth Wilson, whose family owns the Sikeston-based bank, said he is well respected there.

"He had the opportunity to go back into detective work," she said. "He really enjoyed that aspect."

Sikeston police officers interviewed Super D Drug Store employees in the minutes before it reopened at 2:30 p.m. The manager and employees declined to comment.

Paul McAnelly, 78, bought some pain medication at Super D just after it opened.

"We don't get too much crime in Sikeston, so this kind of surprised me," he said. "And you hardly ever hear about a police officer getting shot here. I sure hope he's all right."

Later, 88-year-old A.C. Thrower sat in a lawn chair and watched as law enforcement officers sifted through charred remnants of his grandson's home.

The small red house near the intersection of Highway HH and Ingram Road was the site where the suspects chose to hide out after the robbery. Thrower's grandson, Todd Newman, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair, was already at work in Cape Girardeau when the suspects knocked a gate open and drove to the back of the house.

"It's a miracle he wasn't in there," Thrower said. "They'd have killed him. I don't know what would make people do something like that. He was going back to school, and all his education materials were in there. What a shame. What a shame."

Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, state fire marshal's office and Sikeston police and fire departments gathered evidence and searched a car the suspects used.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137