Authorities say a police officer and a gunman died following a shootout at a motel in eastern Missouri that left another officer wounded
BONNE TERRE, Mo. — A police officer and a gunman died following a shootout early Thursday at a motel in eastern Missouri that left another officer wounded, authorities said.
The Bonne Terre officers were dispatched to a disturbance at a Motel 6 about 12:30 a.m., Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesperson Dallas Thompson told the Park Hills Daily Journal.
As they approached the room where the disturbance was reported, a man came out and fired at the officers with a handgun, the newspaper reported, and both officers were shot.
“This is something that every officer fears,” Thompson told KMOV-TV. “They always have that in the back of their mind.”
The officers returned fire, killing the man, Thompson said.
One officer was taken to a hospital and Bonne Terre Police Chief Doug Calvert confirmed that the officer died. The other officer was taken to a hospital, where he was undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg, the newspaper said.
Bonne Terre is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of St. Louis. The shooting was under instigation. Details about the gunman who died wasn’t immediately released by police.