Police standoff ends with arrest

SIKESTON - A man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting was taken into custody after rounds of tear gas were lobbed into a house early Saturday morning.

Robert Eugene Madison was arrested by officers with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety after approximately a three-hour standoff at a house at 513 John R. Blvd. Madison is suspected in the shooting death of Shekiah Mitchell and injuring her boyfriend, Marcus Robinson.

The incident began at 11:38 p.m. Friday when DPS received a report of a shooting at 318 Dixie St.

Upon arrival, officers determined Mitchell had suffered several gunshot wounds, including a wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Robinson had received a single gunshot wound to the side. He was able to provide officers with information about the shooting and identified Madison as the perpetrator.

Robinson told officers Madison had entered his residence and began shooting at him and his girlfriend. He stated he had exchanged gunfire with Madison.

Robinson refused medical treatment at the scene and was taken to DPS Headquarters where he gave a full statement and provided a description of the subject.

At that time, the Southeast Missouri Major Case Squad was activated and officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Scott County Sheriff's Office and the New Madrid County Sheriff's Office converged on the crime scene and began the investigation.

"As the investigation began to unfold, we started receiving leads indicating the whereabouts of Mr. Madison," said Sikeston DPS Director Drew Juden in a news release. "Several leads were followed up, and several times we were just minutes behind the location he had just left."

At approximately 3:08 a.m. Saturday, information was received that Madison was at a house on John R Boulevard that belonged to his mother. Officers staked out the location and observed Madison in the residence.

"Madison was given an opportunity to surrender but refused to do so, and then barricaded himself inside," Juden said. Once Madison had barricaded himself inside the residence, the DPS Special Operations Group was activated and the area was secured with the evacuation of several nearby homes.

The Department of Public Safety Negotiations Team began attempting to contact Madison via cell phone to get him to surrender. However, Madison had very limited dialog with the negotiators and refused to come out of the residence.

At approximately 4:57 a.m., the bomb robot was deployed to deliver specialized hostage negotiation phones inside of the residence. Upon the delivery of these phones, a single gunshot was heard from inside the residence.

Again negotiators tried to establish a dialog with Madison to get him to surrender and he again refused.

Shortly after 6 a.m., Juden said a decision was made to interject teargas into the residence. After the Special Operations Team administered teargas inside the residence, Madison came out, surrendering without incident.

Ronnie Robinson, Marcus Robinson's brother, watched from the street as Madison was taken inside the Sikeston Department of Public Safety just before 7 a.m. Saturday.

"It is ridiculous," said Robinson shaking his head. "He shot her for no reason."

Madison was described as a "guy in the neighborhood. He wasn't well liked" by Robinson, who had watched the events unfold throughout the night.

He described Mitchell as a hard-worker and a young mother with three children.

"This is ridiculous," said Robinson again about the shooting. "There was no reason for it."

Juden also expressed his department's sympathy for the victim. "Our deepest sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Ms. Mitchell for their loss," he said.

The director praised law enforcement officials who assisted. "I would like to commend all of the members of the Department of Public Safety and the members of the Southeast Missouri Major Case Squad that worked this incident. All members worked very professionally to bring this incident to a successful conclusion without any further injury or loss of life to any other citizens in our community," he said.

Anyone with information about this incident or any other crime is encouraged to call 573-471-6200 or 573-471-1500. All communications are confidential.