A man with a long criminal history fatally shot a Missouri sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop on Monday and later killed a second deputy during a separate gunbattle hours afterward as deputies attempted to reach wounded officers, Christian County Sheriff Brad Cole said. Cole told reporters during a news conference on Tuesday that two deputies were also wounded and that the suspect was killed during the final confrontation.
Cole said the incident began just before 4 p.m. Monday when Christian County Deputy Gabriel Ramirez was found dead in the roadway after a traffic stop south of Highlandville in southwest Missouri. Cole did not say what led officers to stop the vehicle, and he also said he did not know whether the suspect was aware of a warrant.
After the deputy was found dead, authorities launched a search that lasted for hours. Cole said more than 100 deputies, state troopers, U.S. Marshals, and agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched for the suspect after his pickup truck was found about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the stop, near the Stone County town of Reeds Spring.
Around 11:30 p.m., Cole said deputies detected a heat signature in the woods and the suspect, identified as 45-year-old Richard Dean Bird, began shooting. Cole said Deputy Josh Wahl was struck in the leg and Deputy Austin McCall sustained four gunshot wounds during the gunfire.
Cole said Deputy Michael Hislope was killed while responding as deputies tried to reach the wounded officers. Cole said the shooting lasted for more than 30 minutes, and he added that law enforcement ultimately used an armored vehicle to approach Bird as he continued to fire at them.
Cole said Wahl and McCall were rushed to a hospital and were recovering in stable condition after surgery. He also said Bird was killed, and officials estimated that Bird died after deputies used the armored vehicle to end the gunfire.
Cole described the men killed as Army veterans who had seen combat overseas, and he said funeral plans were underway. He also ordered mourning badges to honor Ramirez, who was 30, and Hislope, who was 40, as officials prepared to remember them, he said, “for a lifetime.”
At the news conference, Gov. Mike Kehoe joined Cole and said the community “should be thankful that we have people that run in when everybody else is running away.” Cole also said he wasn’t certain of the initial traffic stop’s reason and did not want to speculate about whether the suspect’s knowledge of the warrant played a role.
Officials also described Bird’s criminal history. Cole said Bird had a history dating back more than a decade, including charges in 2014 in the Kansas City suburb of Johnson County, Kansas, after he fired a gun during a law enforcement chase and agreed to plead no contest to charges that included battery against a law enforcement officer and fleeing or attempting to elude police, according to court records.
Cole said additional issues continued after Bird was released, with Missouri court records showing convictions including driving with a revoked license, misdemeanor stealing and tampering with a motor vehicle. Cole said nearby Stone County deputies tracked a stolen side-by-side to a trailer where Bird was living last week, and they found drugs and other stolen property, including a manhole cover.
Bird was charged with receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance and posted bond Friday, Cole said. Cole said court records and an affidavit described Bird as a “danger to the public,” and authorities later traced coins found during the search to an earlier theft of an antique safe.
Cole said Bird was charged Monday with a fresh set of charges, including burglary, stealing and tampering with physical evidence, and a warrant was issued. Cole said he did not know whether Bird understood that he was wanted, and he did not speculate on how that might have affected the events that followed the traffic stop.