Gunman seen at Missouri S&T had already exchanged fire with authorities

ROLLA, Missouri - The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a man who fired shots at officers near Missouri University of Science & Technology was first spotted at Fort Leonard Wood with an AK-47.

Sgt. Dan Crane says the suspect, who he identified as 31-year-old Cody N. Willcoxon, showed up at the army base around 8:35 a.m.

In a statement posted on the Fort Leonard Wood Garrison Command Facebook fan page , the army base says the suspect did not comply with instructions to pull over at the West Gate and “entered the installation at a high rate of speed.”

Military Police pursued the suspect through a section of the post, where he exited through the North Gate. He was on the base for less than five minutes, the statement said.

Crane says Willcoxon took off on I-44, where he was pursued by sheriff’s deputies. He shot at pursuing officers, but nobody was hurt.

Willcoxon got off on exit to Rolla, where he again shot at pursuing officers.

He stopped near McNutt Hall, where he fled on foot with a rifle. Officers searched the vehicle and found methamphetamines inside.

The suspect was spotted around 8:45 a.m. entering McNutt Hall, according to a news release posted on the university’s website. He left a few minutes later without firing his gun. Nobody was injured, the statement said.

Crane says Willcoxon broke into a nearby occupied house in the 1000 block of Crinoidal Ct. , where he took the keys to a 2003 charcoal gray Ford Taurus with vanity Missouri license plate ROLLAB.

The vehicle has several stickers on the back window, including an American flag, Air Evac, and Rotary Club International, the Rolla Police Department said.

Willcoxon was taken into custody at around 1 p.m.

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Earlier, Missouri S&T assistant director of communications Mindy Limbackith said he had sandy blonde hair and a buzz cut and may have been bleeding from one hand.

He was last seen northwest of the campus on White Columns Drive, near fraternity houses and research buildings.

The school statement says a gun was recovered near McNutt Hall, home to the Departments of Mining and Nuclear Engineering.

“All university students, faculty and staff are to remain in their buildings until Missouri S&T Police issue an all-clear,” the statement says. “Individuals off-campus are asked to remain away from campus until the all-clear has been issued.”

The first alert was posted on the school’s homepage at 8:55 a.m., with the update that he had left campus posted at 9:10 a.m.

Graduation at the roughly 6000-student technological research and engineering campus was last week. It wasn't immediately clear how many students and staff remained on campus.

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Phelps County Regional Medical Center, a hospital located less than a mile away from the campus, is also on a "precautionary" lockdown, an administrator told NBC Action News. The gunman was not spotted on the hospital grounds, the official said.