RAYMORE, Mo. — A convoy of law enforcement chasing down a suspect on I-49 just before midnight Wednesday caught up with him just south of Raymore after he hit a spike strip near mile marker 170. But the suspect, later identified as Preston Ray Holloway of Houston, Texas, wasn't done running.
The chase began with a hectic traffic stop-gone-wrong. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Belton police tried to stop Holloway for not having a license plate and suspicious activity. Troopers said in-car video showed Holloway fled before stopping, opened the driver's side door and fired at officers near Ella and C Street.
When a spike strip disabled his SUV on I-49, he went after another. Holloway got out of the car in the middle of the interstate and pointed the gun at his own head and at oncoming traffic, officials said. As oncoming traffic approached, authorities say he opened fire and eventually carjacked an innocent driver in a white SUV who stopped in fear for their life.
MSHP troopers, Raymore police officers and a Cass County deputy in tow, the man sped north toward Raymore and quickly made his way off the highway into a subdivision, but he didn't get far.
The chase came to an abrupt halt near the roundabout at North Dean Avenue and Lucy Webb Road. MSHP spokesperson Sgt. Collin Stosberg said the suspect got out and again pointed a gun at his own head, but then turned his attention to troopers.
Nearly every agency at the scene opened fire at the suspect, Stosberg said. A man who lives nearby said the calamity sounded like the Fourth of July.
Emergency responders took Holloway to Research Medical Center, where he died around 6:15 a.m.
The MSHP said a handgun was recovered at the scene as evidence when the suspect was taken into custody.
Holloway had unrelated warrants out of Jackson County on burglary and drug charges. Authorities believe he'd been living in the Kansas City area, though he didn't have an official listed address in the area.
"No vehicles were hit. Thankfully, no citizens were injured," Stosberg said. "We're definitely thankful for that. This could have been a lot worse than it was."
With help from the Cass County Sheriff's Office and the Raymore Police Department, the drug crime control division of MSHP will be handling the investigation.
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