St. Louis County Man Who Shot at Police Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a man who shot at multiple St. Louis County police officers in 2024 to 22 years in prison.

Dylan Farmer, 21, of Breckenridge Hills, Missouri, pleaded guilty in June to four counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He admitted firing first at officers with the St. Louis County Police Department Special Response Unit (SRU) who were trying to find someone wanted in connection with a double homicide. On Feb. 13, 2024, a vehicle associated with that wanted person was parked in the 4500 block of Virginia Avenue in St. Louis. When Farmer unlocked the vehicle and got in, officers converged to detain him. All officers wore vests marked “Police,” and three of their vehicles were equipped with blue flashing emergency lights. The officers were also designated as task force officers with the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI.

As three officers pulled up in their SUV, Farmer immediately opened fire with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun equipped with a 50-round drum magazine, damaging the SUV. Officers returned fire. Farmer then ran across the street and between some buildings, where he fired one shot at an officer. He then ran down an alley and fired multiple times at a different officer, who ducked behind a dumpster.

Farmer hid on the front porch of a house in the 4500 block of Alaska Avenue. When officers drove down the street and spotted Farmer, he opened fire again, damaging their vehicle, and officers again returned fire. Farmer surrendered after suffering multiple gunshot wounds. Officers treated his wounds and summoned an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

One officer was injured when a bullet ricocheted off a vehicle’s window, causing glass to fly into his eye. Another’s ankle was injured when he jumped out of his car to seek cover.

The St. Louis County Police Department, the FBI, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa prosecuted the case.