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Man charged in connection with officer-involved shooting in Brentwood

The suspect ran during a traffic stop and exchanged gunfire with officers.
Credit: St. Louis County Police Department
Trey Cockrell was charged with assaulting a police officer and multiple other charges in connection with an officer-involved shooting in Brentwood overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. This booking photo is from a previous arrest.

BRENTWOOD, Mo. - A man is facing charges and St. Louis County police are investigating after an officer officer-involved shooting overnight in Brentwood.

Trey Cockrell, a 24-year-old St. Louis man, was charged with two counts of assault, two counts of assaulting a police officer, and four other charges in connection with the overnight incident.

Police said while Brentwood officers were conducting a traffic stop at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of the Drury Inn, Cockrell got out of the car and started running towards a wooded area. There was also a woman in the car at the time.

Once Cockrell reached the wooded area, officers said he fired at least one gunshot towards them. Neither officer returned fire at the time.

Police said the foot chase continued into a creek between the Drury Inn and Target store, where Cockrell started firing at officers again. At this point, police returned fire and struck him, officials said.

Two police officers from the Richmond Heights Police Department shot their weapons. One is 49 years old with 22 years of service with the department, and the other officer is 47 years old with five years of service with the department. One officer with the Brentwood Police Department shot his weapon as well. He is 35 years old with 12 years of experience on the department.

Cockrell was taken to a local hospital for treatment. His bond was set at $500,000. Police said the booking photo they released Wednesday is from a previous arrest.

Both the Brentwood and Richmond Heights police departments responded to the incident.

The area around the Drury Inn was still described as an active crime scene at 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than eight hours after the shooting happened. Several police cruisers lined the hotel's driveway area and officers with K9s were seen searching the grassy area and creek.

Officers have been patrolling Brentwood's shopping district--and the Drury Inn specifically--for the past several days because a pizza delivery driver had his car stolen from the hotel's parking lot a couple nights ago, Brentwood Police Chief Joseph Spiess said.

The suspect in the police-involved shooting went around the back of the Drury Inn, which didn't seem right to officers who were on patrol, Chief Spiess said, so they stopped the vehicle.

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