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Two officers shot in southern Missouri; standoff continues

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Two officers shot in southern Missouri; standoff continues

A deputy and a state trooper have been shot today while serving an eviction notice to a man in southeast Missouri’s Carter County. Highway Patrol officials tell Missourinet affiliate KWPM in West Plains the deputy was shot in the leg, groin and chest. The trooper was shot in the shoulder and his protective vest.

As of 12:30 p.m., the standoff near Van Buren was still in progress.

The identity of the officers and the suspect, and the officer’s medical statuses, are not known at this time.

Hupp sentenced to life in prison for high-profile Missouri murder; described as “evil incarnated”

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(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo.- Convicted killer Pamela Hupp will spend the rest of her life in state prison for the 2016 murder of a mentally disabled man in St. Charles County, in a case that’s drawn national media attention.

Crystal Conn, Louis Gumpenberger’s sister, speaks outside the St. Charles County Courthouse on August 12, 2019 (Jill Enders photo)

St. Charles County Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole to the O’Fallon woman today, for the killing of Louis Gumpenberger. Hupp told police she shot him in self-defense.

Hupp initially pleaded not guilty in 2017; however, she changed that in June to an Alford plea to avoid the death penalty.

In June, Hupp entered an Alford plea to first degree murder and armed criminal action.

An Alford plea is essentially a plea where the defendant maintains innocence, but admits the state’s evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict in a jury trial.

Investigators have long said that Hupp lured Gumpenberger in a bizarre plot to frame Russ Faria, who was previously convicted of his wife’s murder in Lincoln County, which is north of St. Charles County.

Hupp was a key witness in Faria’s trial. Faria attended Hupp’s sentencing today at the St. Charles County Courthouse.

“She’s evil incarnated and she deserves to go away for the rest of her life,” Faria told reporters after the sentencing.

Faria was later acquitted, after he received a new trial.

Missourinet’s Jill Enders reports Hupp appeared to be laughing in court, prior to today’s sentencing.

“She’s been manipulative the whole way, she wants everybody to believe that she’s still in control. She lost control, and she’s never going to have control again,” St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar told reporters, after the sentencing.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Hundreds turn out in Ferguson for fifth anniversary of Michael Brown’s death

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(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

FERGUSON, Mo.- Today marks the fifth anniversary of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown during a confrontation with then Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson.

Michael Brown Sr. speaks at the Canfield Green apartments in Ferguson on August 9, 2019 (Jill Enders photo)

Prior to the annual ceremony at the Canfield Green apartments, Mike Brown Sr. held a press conference outside the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton. Brown is calling on St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell to re-open the case into his son’s death.

“I could not protect him that day (in 2014) and it breaks my heart. I will stand and fight for justice until the day I die,” Brown says.

Brown tells reporters he’s been communicating with Bell, who defeated longtime St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch in last year’s primary election. Bell was elected in November, and took office in January.

Bell hasn’t said whether or not he’ll re-open the case. He did issue a statement to Missourinet.

“Our office is doing everything we can to understand the underlying issues that contributed to the tragic death of Michael Brown. We are working everyday with the community and law enforcement to implement policies and reforms that meaningfully address those issues, and help this community and this region heal,” Bell’s statement reads.

It was announced on November 24, 2014 that a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson. The announcement resulted in violent protests in Ferguson.

A separate investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice also cleared Wilson of any wrongdoing.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Bicyclist finds decaying body near Missouri campsite

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Bicyclist finds decaying body near Missouri campsite

A grisly discovery on Monday in southwest Missouri’s McDonald County. A bicyclist found a woman’s decaying body near the Shady Beach Campground between Noel and Ginger Blue. The body was discovered next to a suitcase and authorities believe the woman had originally been stuffed inside.

Investigators think the suitcase was tossed from a vehicle, rolled down a steep hill and the body eventually fell out.

McDonald County Sheriff Mike Hall says the body had been there for quite some time.

The body has not yet been identified. An autopsy will take place today in Springfield.

By Sarah Novotny of Missourinet affiliate KZRG in Joplin

Southern Missouri man critically injured in Iowa officer shooting

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A man from southern Missouri’s Marshfield is in critical condition from being shot Sunday by a police officer in Leon, Iowa. Special Agent Adam DeCamp of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says a Leon police officer was doing “an investigative stop” of Bauer.
“Officer Thomas was in his vehicle and Mr. Bauer approached Officer Thomas and did spray Officer Thomas in the face with a chemical agent which I guess everyone is used to hearing it called mace,” DeCamp says.

Southern Missouri man critically injured in Iowa officer shooting

The policeman was in his squad car when he fired “multiple rounds” at Bauer, according to DeCamp.

“Officer Thomas was treated at the scene and released,” DeCamp says. “Mr. Bauer was transported to a Des Moines hospital by air ambulance.”

Marshfield and Leon, which are about 300 miles apart, both sit along the Interstate-35 corridor. The Sunday morning shooting happened on the edge of Leon, near the intersection of two gravel roads.

“Just off the highway,” DeCamp says. “There are some residential homes in the area. There are also some vacant lots, open field areas, a horse pasture kind of off to the side as well.”

Investigators says there is “no known video recording” of the 3 a.m. incident since the policeman was not wearing a body camera and his vehicle was not outfitted with video equipment.

By O.Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa

Emergency work to begin soon on two heavily-damaged Missouri levees

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Emergency contracts could soon be launched to repair two levees badly damaged by this year’s flooding.

Emergency work to begin soon on two heavily-damaged Missouri levees (Photo courtesy of KFEQ)

Jud Kneuvean with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Kansas City office says damage to the levees along Mill Creek and the Big Tarkio River have caused real problems in northwest Missouri, from Corning to Craig.

“Being in the degraded state that they are, it allows flow to circumvent in portions of the flood plain there that normally you would not see water,” Kneuvean tells Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph. “The damage to the federal levee system that is upstream of that, it really increases the likelihood that those folks will continue to be flooded.”

Kneuvean says the Corps is close to devising a fix for those levees located in Holt County which run perpendicular to the Missouri River. He says any repairs made this year will be temporary and will not restore the levees to their pre-flood condition.

Floodwaters heavily damaged the two levees along the Missouri tributaries of Mill Creek and the Big Tarkio River.

“The breaches there were quite extensive,” according to Kneuvean, who says the Corps used sonar to measure a breach 81-foot deep at Mill Creek. “The one at the Big Tarkio was 51 feet deep, but the scour hole that was created as a result of the flood was almost 28 acres in size.”

It will take a tremendous amount of rock to repair the levees, but something must be done to relieve flood-ravaged communities in northwest Missouri which seemingly haven’t been able to catch a break since mid-March.

“One of the things we have to do to allow folks up there to get back to some normalcy is close off that water that is flowing through the flood plain,” says Kneuvean, who adds the Corps is concerned about those two tributaries in particular. “If it’s not repaired, you cannot restore normal flow back through those channels, back to the river.”

This year’s flooding has wrecked the Missouri River levee system. Repairs at Mill Creek and the Big Tarkio are part of the largest levee rehabilitation effort undertaken by the Corps since 1993.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph

Hawley praises Trump for throwing extra expensive July 4th bash

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The National Park Service has diverted $2.5 million meant for park improvements to instead pay for President Donald Trump’s July 4th event. Trump says the celebration – called Salute to America – will be the “show of a lifetime.”

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (left) speaks with President Donald Trump on March 14, 2018, after Air Force One lands at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (file photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI)

The bash will include military fly-overs, a speech from the president and a firework display that will be twice as long as in previous years.

Taxpayers will be paying more for the president’s appearance, military presence and security – not for the longer fireworks display or the fly-overs.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, tells Springfield television station KOLR he applauds the president’s extra effort to make the celebration special.

“This is something the capitol does every year and has for many decades,” Hawley said. “And my understanding is that presidents have been involved in this in the past, so I’m glad the president wants to participate and I’m glad that he wants to celebrate America.”

Democratic Presidential candidate Julian Castro says Trump is wasting money on funds that should be spent on things like addressing veteran homelessness. He says Trump is using the money for an ego boost and campaign fundraising.

Army Corps of Engineers pegs costs to restore levee system at $1B+, for now

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It will cost a lot to replace the levees damaged by this year’s flood.

The initial levee break which closed U.S. Route 59 in southern Buchanan County the first time./Photo courtesy of the Kansas Highway Patrol

It will also take a lot of time.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released an estimate of the cost of repairing 100 damaged levees along the Platte River and the Missouri River.

“Right now, we’re estimating at $1.15 billion,” Tom Brady with the Northwest District of the Corps of Engineers tells those on a conference call. “That number will change, because there are many levees we haven’t had access to.”

Brady emphasizes that is only a preliminary estimate.

“A lot of those estimates are based on desktop recon, because we’re not able to get to some of those levees that are under water,” Brady says. “So, we don’t have a full magnitude of the damage. And, so until we get ground truth, we really can’t give you a good targeted amount.”

Brady says that price tag is likely to go higher when floodwaters recede and inspectors can actually view the damage. Also, more requests for repairs are likely to be fielded by the Corps.

Brady does hold out the possibility that costs could go down.

“Because when we see the damage on the ground, we may find that we are able to cut back on some of our estimates,” Brady says. “We won’t know until we can get engineers out on those 850 miles of levees.”

The Corps also estimates it will take at least a couple of years to fully restore the levees damaged by this year’s flood.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph

St. Louis Congressman Clay: gun violence is a public health emergency

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(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

A dean of Missouri’s congressional delegation has filed legislation that would allow high crime cities to have stricter gun laws.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, briefs reporters at St. Louis Children’s Hospital on June 28, 2019 (Jill Enders photo)

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, unveiled the proposed legislation during a Friday morning press conference at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“In St. Louis and across this nation…we are faced with an ugly, obscene, inescapable truth…gun violence is a public health emergency. I’ve introduced H.R. 3435, the Local Public Health and Safety Protection Act, because like you, I’m tired of the violence. I’m tired of the excuses. And I’m tired of our state legislature being either unable, or just too frightened, to do something about gun violence – because they’re being held hostage by the NRA.” Clay adds.

State gun laws are often the same for low crime rural areas as they are for higher crime urban areas.  Clay’s legislation is an effort for cities such as St. Louis to tighten gun laws without the approval of state lawmakers.

State Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County, is blasting the bill, tweeting that Democrats are using gun control laws “to cover up the fact that they fail to support police and fail to control crime.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson joined Clay at the press conference, noting she grew up in northern Missouri’s Moberly.

“I understand the relationship that folks all over the state have with guns, but what is best for Moberly, Missouri isn’t necessarily what’s best for St. Louis,” says Krewson.

St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden took to social media on Wednesday, saying 18 people have been shot in four days in the Gateway City. Chief Hayden says 89 people have been murdered in St. Louis this year, up from 83 during the same period in 2018.

Under Congressman Clay’s proposed legislation, which he coauthored with U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois), states could not prohibit or restrict a local government from:

· Requiring background checks for firearms purchases;
· Restricting the ability to carry a firearm in public places. Restricting the quantity and type of ammunition that an individual is allowed to purchase;
· Requiring gun owners to safely store their firearms, especially in households with children;
· And prohibiting the sale and transfer of certain types of especially deadly firearms and accessories, including semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Northwest Missouri stop for vet walking across America

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A U.S. Air Force veteran is walking from the east to the west coast to go the distance for other vets. William Shuttleworth, 71, made a stop Wednesday in northwest Missouri’s Chillicothe. He tells Missourinet affiliate KCHI in Chillicothe that he’s making the cross-country adventure to bring attention to the many veterans he says who are not getting the VA services they need.

William Shuttleworth (Photo courtesy of Missourinet affiliate KCHI in Chillicothe)

“Last summer, I had the privilege of running a camp for the state of California. I created three campsites for homeless people – they were all vets. Everyday sitting at my picnic table, I heard nothing but sadness. I heard they were suicidal, depressed, had no medical care, couldn’t get services out of the VA, couldn’t get a job,” he says.

Shuttleworth says other big problems for veterans are what he calls “red tape” and “the runaround” from the Veterans Administration.

“It is almost unbelievable. The Veterans Affairs just last week, we found out that they have $190 million to provide housing for homeless vets and not a dollar has been spent. I’ve talked to hundreds and hundreds of vets that feel they just aren’t getting the services, it takes so long to file the claim, it gets denied over and over again. That’s my biggest concern. Other than the homelessness, the drug issue is also a very important one to me,” he says.

When he returned home from the California camp, he told his wife about his walking plans.

“Since I’m in such good shape and I walk 20 miles a day, why not walk across the country and engage people in a hand-to-hand coalition – grassroots support to listen to America, some veterans and advocate for better changes in services for them,” Shuttleworth says.

He expects to start on his fourth pair of walking shoes Friday while he’s in St. Joseph.

Shuttleworth started his walk on May 15 near Boston and plans to finish in mid-September at Vandenberg Air Force Base in San Francisco. As for his journey so far, it hasn’t all been fun and games.

“Of the 40 days I’ve been walking, it’s rained 28. I’ve had two encounters with near tornadoes. It rained so hard that I couldn’t actually see my feet,” says Shuttleworth. “Now I’m probably going to be approaching near 100-degree heat for a month. That is probably going to be my biggest challenge.”

He says the challenges are worth every bit.

“If you want to see how great America really is, put on a pair of shoes like I have and start walking across the country,” Shuttleworth says. “You see decent, incredible, gracious, kind, intelligent, thoughtful human beings.”

Shuttleworth hopes to end his walk in mid-September at Vandenberg Air Force Base in San Francisco.