Charges were filed this week following a retail theft at Rural King in Waterloo shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday resulting in a successful police pursuit that ended in St. Clair County. Columbia police said the fleeing suspects fired shots from a moving vehicle during the pursuit, although they don’t believe the gunfire was aimed at police.

The suspect vehicle, a green Toyota with Illinois plates, was located by Columbia police near Route 158 and Route 3 and pursued into St. Clair County and through Millstadt. The vehicle was eventually stopped by the use of spike strips deployed in the area of Route 157 and Route 163 near Cahokia, with both occupants detained.

Joshua K. Gregory, 23, of O’Fallon, was charged in Monroe County Circuit Court with reckless discharge of a firearm. Court information alleges that Gregory “knowingly and unlawfully endangered the bodily safety of a Columbia police officer in that, while acting in a reckless matter, after being given an audible and visual signal to stop the vehicle he was driving, discharged a firearm from the vehicle while the officer was in pursuit.”

Ginger Jones, 37, of Belleville, was charged with felony retail theft (previous conviction). She is alleged to have stolen a pair of Carhartt bib overalls from Rural King.

Police agencies assisting the Waterloo and Columbia police departments in this incident included Millstadt, Cahokia and Dupo as well as the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.