VENICE, Ill. — What started as a disturbance at a nightclub led to a series of crimes on a bridge over the Mississippi River.
Police officers in the Metro East first responded shortly after midnight Wednesday to a call for a fight at the Bottoms Up Club in Brooklyn, Illinois, state police reported. Police heard there was a gun inside a gray truck that drove away from the scene. Officers chased after the suspect, which led to the McKinley Bridge spanning from Illinois into Missouri.
Officers with the Venice Police Department were helping with the chase. While on the McKinley Bridge, a passenger inside the truck shot at Venice police, Illinois State Police said. The officer fired back.
The Venice police officer was not injured. The police SUV has some damage from at least one bullet. Illinois State Police said the people inside the suspect vehicle got away.
The shooting led police to close the McKinley Bridge for several hours.
While investigating the scene, two more incidents happened on the bridge.
ISP said as officers were processing evidence, a car drove through the barricade that was set up to keep the bridge closed. A woman inside the vehicle threw something off the bridge. Police stopped the car and said they found two guns. A man and woman were arrested.
Then moments later, another car drove through the police barricade. Illinois State Police said officers tried to stop the driver, but she hit the Venice police SUV that was shot at earlier and then hit another police vehicle. The woman’s vehicle rolled over on the bridge.
Police said she was injured and taken to a Granite City hospital. Illinois State Police said they suspected she was drunk and will likely be charged.
Illinois State Police investigators do not believe the three incidents are related.
The McKinley Bridge was closed for several hours early Wednesday. It reopened just before 5 a.m.