By Brandie Piper
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — In a burglary that may have been timed to take advantage of law-enforcement focus elsewhere, a police officer was shot and a woman killed in this St. Louis suburb south of Ferguson, Mo., and the suspect remains at large.
Officers were summoned to a house around 10 a.m. in a residential area of this suburb of about 35,000 people. The caller said a man had climbed through a window and started shooting, said detective Sgt. Fredrick Lemons with the University City Police Department.
Officers arriving at the home found a woman, later identified as Donna Washington, 55, with a gunshot wound to her leg, Lemons said. She was taken to an area hospital where she later died.
As three officers approached the home, one was shot in the chest but was able to return gunfire, Lemons said.
It was not immediately apparent whether the gunman was hit. The suspect, identified Tuesday afternoon as Washington’s son Major Washington, 33, has long dreadlocks, medium build and a light complexion was last seen running east toward a major thoroughfare about two blocks away.
Major Washington is considered armed and dangerous.
The injured officer, a five-year veteran of the department whose name was not released for safety reasons, was taken to an area hospital and is listed in serious but stable condition.
Officials said the crime is unrelated to the violence that erupted overnight in Ferguson about 5 miles to the north after a grand jury decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson in connection with the death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown.
Brandie Piper 