Court worker serving an eviction notice and an officer were fatally shot in Missouri, police say

By Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press on February 29, 2024.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – A court employee and a police officer were fatally shot Thursday after the court process server tried to serve an eviction notice at a home in Independence, Missouri, authorities said.

A second officer was critically injured, but is expected to survive, police said at a news conference.

A male suspect sustained minor injuries, Corporal Justin Ewing with Missouri State Highway Patrol said during a separate news conference.

Independence Police Department spokesperson Officer Jack Taylor said no details are immediately available about what led to the shooting.

Helicopter video from KMBC-TV showed emergency vehicles converged around an isolated house in the middle of a field. The media was cordoned off in an area about 1 mile (1.61 kilometers) from the crime scene. The area was a mixture of woods and farmland with a smattering of houses on large, multi-acre lots. A church was mixed in among the houses.

Independence is a suburb of Kansas City, with about 122,000 residents.

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