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Police officer, suspect dead; 2 other officers wounded
By Jeff Lehr | jlehr@joplinglobe.com Mar 8, 2022
https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/loc...306917aeb.html
Police officer, suspect dead; 2 other officers wounded
By Jeff Lehr | jlehr@joplinglobe.com Mar 8, 2022
https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/loc...306917aeb.html
A Joplin police officer was shot to death and two other officers injured Tuesday afternoon in at least two exchanges of gunfire with a fleeing suspect, who also was killed.
Brian Lewis, assistant police chief, said officers responded at 1:22 p.m. to a report of a disturbance in the Northpark Crossing shopping center in the 400 block of Geneva Avenue, where they first encountered the suspect and an initial exchange of gunfire took place. Two officers were struck by rounds in that exchange, he said.
A pursuit of the suspect ensued, ending several minutes later near Ninth Street and Connecticut Avenue, where a second exchange of gunfire took place and a third officer was injured, Lewis said in an impromptu news conference shortly after the shootings.
Lewis said at that time that all three officers and the suspect were transported to a hospital.
Police confirmed Tuesday night that one of the officers and the suspect had died, and that one of the other officers was in critical condition and the third in serious but stable condition. The names of the officers and suspect were still being withheld pending a news conference scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
Police were processing three crime scenes in the aftermath of the shooting: the spot where the incident began outside The Buckle store in the shopping center, near Ninth and Connecticut, and a third location about two blocks to the south on Laura Lane.
Police confirmed Tuesday night that the suspect stole a patrol car at the scene of the first exchange of gunfire and that he wrecked the car and fled on foot to the location where he and the third officer were shot. They have yet to release any information on how the incident began.
"There's a bigger picture we haven't put together yet," Lewis explained when asked about what had transpired before the first exchange of gunfire.
He added that once the three crime scenes are processed, the investigation of the shooting will be turned over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the usual procedure for the Joplin Police Department in officer-involved shootings.
The city has announced that more information will be released at the news conference.
A witness to how the pursuit ended, Kim Jenkins, told the Globe that she was inside her house on the corner of Connecticut and Carolina avenues when she heard sirens and went to her front door.
"I saw a guy across the street hiding behind my neighbor's fence," Jenkins said.
She saw he had a gun. She said an officer in a patrol car came barreling down the street at that point, and she stepped outside her door and tried to point out the suspect's hiding place to the officer.
Jenkins was unsure if the officer saw her or not. But the suspect ran toward a nearby apartment building, and the officer came back down the street and pulled to a stop right in front of a van that the suspect was using as cover. She said that's when the suspect opened fire on the officer and shot him.
"I don't think he even had time to get out (of his car) when the guy started shooting," Jenkins said.
She said it appeared to her that the officer was shot through the windshield of his patrol car.
Several other officers arrived on the scene at that point and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. She said the suspect was hit and fell to the ground.
Jenkins said she saw just the one officer and the suspect shot at that location. She said the suspect was on foot and no longer in possession of any police car that she could see.
Craig Periman, who lives on Markwardt Street, ran outside when he heard sirens and racing engines a couple blocks to the west. He came upon a tire in the street near the intersection of Markwardt and Campbell Parkway, and a police officer instructed him not to touch it, that it was considered evidence.
Periman believed the tire may have come off the patrol car they were chasing.
Brian Lewis, assistant police chief, said officers responded at 1:22 p.m. to a report of a disturbance in the Northpark Crossing shopping center in the 400 block of Geneva Avenue, where they first encountered the suspect and an initial exchange of gunfire took place. Two officers were struck by rounds in that exchange, he said.
A pursuit of the suspect ensued, ending several minutes later near Ninth Street and Connecticut Avenue, where a second exchange of gunfire took place and a third officer was injured, Lewis said in an impromptu news conference shortly after the shootings.
Lewis said at that time that all three officers and the suspect were transported to a hospital.
Police confirmed Tuesday night that one of the officers and the suspect had died, and that one of the other officers was in critical condition and the third in serious but stable condition. The names of the officers and suspect were still being withheld pending a news conference scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
Police were processing three crime scenes in the aftermath of the shooting: the spot where the incident began outside The Buckle store in the shopping center, near Ninth and Connecticut, and a third location about two blocks to the south on Laura Lane.
Police confirmed Tuesday night that the suspect stole a patrol car at the scene of the first exchange of gunfire and that he wrecked the car and fled on foot to the location where he and the third officer were shot. They have yet to release any information on how the incident began.
"There's a bigger picture we haven't put together yet," Lewis explained when asked about what had transpired before the first exchange of gunfire.
He added that once the three crime scenes are processed, the investigation of the shooting will be turned over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the usual procedure for the Joplin Police Department in officer-involved shootings.
The city has announced that more information will be released at the news conference.
A witness to how the pursuit ended, Kim Jenkins, told the Globe that she was inside her house on the corner of Connecticut and Carolina avenues when she heard sirens and went to her front door.
"I saw a guy across the street hiding behind my neighbor's fence," Jenkins said.
She saw he had a gun. She said an officer in a patrol car came barreling down the street at that point, and she stepped outside her door and tried to point out the suspect's hiding place to the officer.
Jenkins was unsure if the officer saw her or not. But the suspect ran toward a nearby apartment building, and the officer came back down the street and pulled to a stop right in front of a van that the suspect was using as cover. She said that's when the suspect opened fire on the officer and shot him.
"I don't think he even had time to get out (of his car) when the guy started shooting," Jenkins said.
She said it appeared to her that the officer was shot through the windshield of his patrol car.
Several other officers arrived on the scene at that point and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. She said the suspect was hit and fell to the ground.
Jenkins said she saw just the one officer and the suspect shot at that location. She said the suspect was on foot and no longer in possession of any police car that she could see.
Craig Periman, who lives on Markwardt Street, ran outside when he heard sirens and racing engines a couple blocks to the west. He came upon a tire in the street near the intersection of Markwardt and Campbell Parkway, and a police officer instructed him not to touch it, that it was considered evidence.
Periman believed the tire may have come off the patrol car they were chasing.
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