Officer Fatally Shot, Second Seriously Wounded During Manhunt

A Missouri police officer was fatally shot and a second officer was seriously wounded during a manhunt that resulted in an apparent standoff with the suspect, the Missouri Highway Patrol confirmed via FOX 2 Now.

Detective Sgt. Mason Griffith of the Hermann Police Department succumbed to injuries sustained in the shooting at a hospital. Griffith was shot at a convenience store in Hermann at around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday (March 13).

A second Hermann officer was also shot during the incident and is reported to be hospitalized in serious condition, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Cpl. Kyle Green told FOX 2 Now that the victim was transported to a hospital in St. Louis.

Authorities have not shared details regarding what led to the shooting incident or whether the officers returned fire. The Missouri Highway Patrol identified the shooter as Kenneth Lee Simpson, 35, of Eureka, and reported that he was involved in an apparent manhunt near a house in Hermann along Highway 19 within a short distance from where the convenience store shooting took place.

Police surrounded a Hermann home and ordered the suspect to come outside after previously searching a motel room in the town where Simpson and his girlfriend were believed to have rented a room, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Simpson had previously faced criminal charges involving drugs, weapons offenses, assault and property damage, according to Missouri court records obtained by the Post-Dispatch. A St. Louis judge had previously issued a warrant for Simpson's arrest in August when he failed to appear in court in relation to a drug possession case.