Feds join hunt for suspect in Mo. deputy's slaying

MINERAL POINT, Mo. (AP) - The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service joined the search for a 30-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting a Washington County sheriff's deputy who had responded to an emergency call early Saturday.

Christopher Parsons, who became a deputy in October, was shot and killed while responding to a call around 2 a.m. about an unconscious person near Mineral Point, a community of roughly 350 residents about 80 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Highway Patrol Trooper Juston Wheetley said emergency workers were loading the unconscious person into an ambulance when someone standing outside a nearby mobile home shot Parsons, who was 31 years old.

"As they were loading (the unconscious person) into the back of the ambulance they were ambushed," Wheetley said. He said investigators don't know of any motive.

The assailant, who witnesses identified as a local man, Gary Sancegrow, fled on foot into a heavily wooded area wearing camouflage. He is considered armed and dangerous.

"He used a rifle, but I don't know if it was high-powered or a shotgun or what," Wheetley said. "He is the only suspect we're seeking at this time."

The sheriff's department has put up a $2,500 reward for information leading to Sancegrow's arrest.