“Dangerous suspect” not in hotel room, search over

The hours long standoff and search at a Boonville Motel is over, and the suspect the Missouri State Highway Patrol thought was inside, was not.

ABC 17 News confirmed law enforcement was looking for Carl Roettgen, the man who allegedly tried to shoot at an officer in Marshall earlier this week.

Boonville Police, Cooper County deputies, and Highway Patrol troopers surrounded a room at the QT Inn off Route B with guns drawn.

The perimeter around the motel room was expanded just before 5:25, with law enforcement telling reporters they needed to move for their safety, in case there were to be a confrontation.

Authorities were dressed in SWAT gear with helmets and shields holding guns. Officers were using a bull horn to talk to one of the rooms.

Before the SWAT team went in, they sent in a robot from the Bomb Squad to sweep the room.

ABC 17 crews also saw a K9 unit at the scene.

Trooper Andrew Armstrong said the scene took so long to prepare because of how dangerous Roettgen is.

“He already tried to shoot at an officer, so we didn’t want to take any chances. We didn’t want any of our law enforcement to get hurt, so we had to take every precaution possible,” Armstrong said.

He said they got a tip he was inside the hotel earlier Friday, which prompted the scene.

Now that he was not inside the room, Troopers say they don’t know where Roettgen could be, but they will continue looking for him.

QT Motel residents and guests were able to get back in their rooms Friday night.

Stay with ABC 17 News for the latest on this developing story.