Video: Intense dash cam captures chase with gunman

Chief says he's lucky after chase with AK-47-toting gunman who attempted to enter Army base

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By PoliceOne Staff

ST. ROBERT, Mo. - Police on Monday released dash cam footage of an intense chase with a crazed, AK-47-toting gunman who attempted to break into an Army base last Thursday.

The chase began when Cody Willcoxson tried sneaking into the nearby Fort Leonard Wood Army base using a fake ID. According to the Associated Press, Willcoxson tried entering the base through its west gate and was told to leave by a security guard, who determined his identification card didn't look legitimate. Instead of leaving, he accelerated rapidly and drove through the gate, then led military police on a chase that ended when he drove back out through the front gate and the St. Robert Police Department began the pursuit.

St. Robert Police Chief Curtis Curenton said the officers had been on Interstate 44 for only a couple miles when Willcoxson began firing shots from an AK-47. Curenton said he followed Willcoxson about 32 miles to Rolla when his driver's-side mirror was hit with one round and his engine compartment was hit by another.

"After he started shooting and we realized the caliber of the weapon, we knew we had to get him off the road,” Curenton told KY3-TV.

Curenton praised Officer Trenton Herr, a 22-year-old rookie who was first in line during the chase, saying that Herr had displayed "remarkable valor".

Willcoxson was eventually arrested after stealing another car from a residence near the Missouri S&T campus. He was pulled over by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at which point he surrendered to officers.