Exactly seven months to the day after the last officer went down, a second police officer has been killed in the line of duty in the small town of Clinton, MO. Two other officers were injured in the shooting last night according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The police officers were shot at about 9:30 p.m. when they entered a residence.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the Clinton Police Department, SWAT teams and the Henry County Sheriff’s Department were outside the residence where the suspect was barricaded. By 12:30 a.m. local time, officers had entered the residence and found the suspect dead.
Police said they received a 911 call from the home about 9:20 p.m. and heard two women screaming in the background. After responding, the officers were fired at from inside the home and chose to go inside to “apprehend the suspect.” The officers were stuck by gunfire inside, with one dying on the scene.
“We’re still piecing everything together,” said Sgt. Bill Lowe, from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. “We’re way early in the investigation.”
Lowe said they were still investigating whether the suspect was shot by police or took his own life. No one else was injured.
The two injured officers are being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The death on Tuesday was seven months to the day a fellow Clinton police officer, Gary Michael, was shot and killed. Michael was killed after pulling over a driver for a traffic violation last August, KMBC reported.
“It’s hard to put into words what you go through when you have an officer killed in the line of duty, and then to have it happen to a department after a short period of time, that’s hard to wrap your head around,” Lowe said. “I do know the Clinton Police Department is a well-respected police department — not only in this area, but around this area — and they’re going to forge on. They’ll need help along the way. We’re all saddened by this tragic event.”
Lowe said the officer who was killed had worked for Clinton police before Michael’s death, and returned to the department after he had died.
Ian McCarthy has been charged with first-degree murder for the shooting of Michael. He has pleaded not guilty. The Associated Press reported just three weeks ago prosecutors would seek the death penalty in Michael’s shooting.
