CLINTON, MO — A shooting that left one police officer dead and two others injured in Missouri on Tuesday night started with a 911 phone call punctuated by screams.
The call came in about 10:20 p.m. ET, and two women could be heard screaming in the background at the home in Clinton, Sgt. Bill Lowe of the Missouri State Highway Patrol told CNN by phone.
When Clinton Police Department officers rushed to the scene, gunfire erupted.
The shooter barricaded himself in the home, leading to a standoff that ended when the SWAT team entered and found him dead just after midnight early Wednesday, Lowe said.
One officer was fatally shot inside the home, he said. Two other officers are in stable condition and undergoing treatment for gunshot wounds — one in the arm and the other in the shoulder, he said.
The identities of the three officers are being withheld pending the notification of the next-of-kin.
Lowe said they believe they know who the shooter is, but will not release any information until they “are positive” about his identity.
It’s unclear how he died or what his relationship was to the women. The women were not injured, Lowe said.
Another shooting last year
This is the second Clinton Police Department officer killed in less than a year.
In August, a Clinton officer was gunned down during a routine traffic stop. Officer Gary Michael, 37, had pulled over a vehicle for a suspected registration violation when the alleged shooter got out of his car and fired at him.
The suspect in last year’s incident was captured and charged with one count of first-degree murder, and one count of armed criminal action, both felonies.
“It’s hard to put it in words what you go through when you have an officer killed in the line of duty,” Lowe said Tuesday night.
“And then to have it happen to a department after a short period of time, that’s hard to wrap your head around.”
The Clinton Fire Department issued its condolences after the shooting, CNN affiliate KCTV reported.
“Our hearts ache for our brothers in blue at the CPD,” it said in a statement.
“Our community has lost another public servant due to a police officer involved shooting. We are praying and ask that each of you pray for all involved and especially for the family of the officer who was killed in the line of duty this evening.”
The officer killed Tuesday returned to the department after Michael’s death last year, Lowe said.
