Parolee gave a ‘fictitious’ name, shot at trooper during traffic stop, Missouri Highway Patrol says

A Florida man, wanted for a parole violation in another state, has been identified as the gunman accused of shooting a Missouri trooper after authorities were called to investigate a “suspicious vehicle.”

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement Thursday that charges are expected to be filed against Colby M. Rey, 32, of Orlando.

Rey allegedly shot Trooper Robert D. Crewse two times.

Then authorities returned gunfire, striking Rey.

The shooting happened at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on Clouse Road, north of Mansfield, Missouri.

Crewse went to the area after someone called authorities about a “suspicious vehicle,” the highway patrol said.

The trooper found the vehicle, which was occupied by a man.

The highway patrol said the man “provided a fictitious name” to the trooper, and the trooper soon discovered through a registration check that the license plates were registered to another vehicle.

Crewse asked the man — later identified as Rey — to get out of the vehicle, but the highway patrol said he refused.

“When the man was asked to exit the vehicle, he became agitated and refused to comply. A second trooper and a Mansfield city police officer arrived on the scene to assist,” the highway patrol said in a statement. “At that time, the man in the vehicle produced a handgun and began firing at the officers.”

Authorities fired shots, striking Rey “several times,” the highway patrol said.

Crewse, described as “a 15-year veteran” based in Willow Springs, was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries and has been released, the highway patrol said.

Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Kinder told the Springfield News-Leader one bullet grazed Crewse’s head and another struck his bulletproof vest.

“He went through something that every trooper out there practices most of their adult life and trains for that particular instance, when they’re involved in a gun fight, if they ever are,” Kinder told KSPR in an interview. “His training, it allowed him to survive it.”

Rey remained in a Springfield area hospital Thursday in critical condition.

According to the highway patrol, Rey was wanted by the Mississippi Department of Corrections for an alleged parole violation on a weapons offense.

His name and mugshot appear in an online parolee search provided by the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

This story was originally published July 19, 2018 at 12:46 PM.