Christopher Morton; Officer down
Top Kone sends us the sad news that Clinton, Missouri Police Officer Christopher Morton was killed in the line of duty;
At approximately 9:20 P.M. (Central) Tuesday, Officer Morton and other members of the Clinton Police Department responded to a 911 call in which women could be heard screaming in the background. As officers arrived, a gun battle ensued and Officer Morton and two other officers were hit. Officer Morton succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The other officers were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Kansas City Star reports that the Royals paid tribute to the Army National Guard veteran in 2014;
The Clinton, Mo., police officer who was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday night was honored by the Royals in 2014 for his military service in Afghanistan.
Officer Christopher Morton, 30, was killed while responding to a 911 call, was in the Our Heroes seats (now called the Salute to Service seats) on June 5, 2014 at Kauffman Stadium.
Morton was in the Army National Guard, had been twice deployed and returned in May 2014 from Afghanistan. He told the Royals he served as a bridge crew member and radio communications manager.
[…]
The Royals tweeted: “We are saddened to hear the news regarding Clinton, Mo Police Officer Chris Morton this morning. He was honored for his military service at #TheK in 2014. Our thoughts are with his family today.”
Category: We Remember
RIP good Sir! TY for the protections you provided for us, you’re now with Father in His Kingdom…you’ve done your duty, now rest in peace in paradise and your Brothers will take watch now.
Amen
Amen!
RIP, Officer Morton…
Is the perp still at large?
According to this report, the perpetrator is dead.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/08/missouri-police-officer-killed-responding-to-911-call-was-at-wrong-house-officials-say.html
‘[…]
The three officers entered the Clinton home, about 70 miles east of Kansas City, and were searching for possible criminal activity when James E. Waters, 37, opened fire, according to Lowe.
“We’re confident that is not part of this incident [in Clinton], but the fact remains they were called to that residence…In order to determine nothing adverse was going on in that residence, they had to make sure everything was OK. That’s when the tragic incident took place,” Lowe said.
Morton was shot and killed. Officers Nathan Bettencourt and Nicholas Kasper were both wounded. Bettencourt was in stable condition as of Wednesday. Kasper was treated for his gunshot wounds and released.
A SWAT team responded to the scene after the shooting and found Waters dead inside the home. It’s unclear how Waters died and if he was living in the home at the time.
[…].’
It breaks my heart to think that he survived 2 deployments to Afghanistan, only to succumb to a oxygen-thieving POS
RIP Officer Morton
Rot in hell Waters
*an
The story I just read this AM stated the officers were dispatched to the wrong house 15 miles (!?!) away.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/08/missouri-police-officer-killed-responding-to-911-call-was-at-wrong-house-officials-say.html
But, there was meth at the 911 house, and a bad guy at the mistake house who is dead (story says its unclear how/why).
I mourn the officer and his loved ones. And, I’m not shedding many tears here for the bad guy mind you.
But the wrong house, 15 miles away? What if it was a “normal” house defended by a father scared for his family’s safety when he hears the door being broken into?
Sigh.
Normal family probably calls 911 and says “WTF?” , and probably calls out to the visitors “show me a warrant”.
It’s my understanding that dopers react somewhat differently, ” run and flush” being one such difference.
Any pro comments on this?
The whole thing was a soup salad. I am not sure what went wrong here at the house yet but dopers have gotten used to the idea that rival gangs pretend to be the police to rip them off. Many have no problem taking a few shots at the police these days to avoid a free trip back to prison or even jail. If he is out on bond awaiting trial and selling drugs to maintain the thug life he might have figured they got wind of it and were coming for him to arrest him and revoke his bond. This is one of the many reasons drug raids are high risk.
Convicted felon here forgot all about the law about not having a gun and decided he needed some protection.
Dispatcher failure likely. Keep in mind though that 911 GPS location is often horribly inaccurate. Most officers assume that when the only data point for location is GPS cell location it is wrong.
When the officers arrived at the address they were given, one of the people came out and talked to them, that lady said there was no problem there but was acting very nervous (likely the meth and felon with a gun in the home)
So the officers, following the law, started going inside to verify there was no proble or that the lady was not being forced to say these things.
Damn it.
THe MFer who shot the officers was a career violent criminal who had served multiple state and Federal prison terms and who was out on bail for a Nov 2018 charge of felon in possession of a firearm. Officer Morton is the 18th LEO killed in the line of duty thus far this year. 18 and we’re in early March. Will the WaPo database show this? No, but it will count the POS among the “Fatal Force” data it maintains on the number of people killed by police. Makes me sick.
“Fatal Force.” Get it? If not, let me know and I’ll explain what the assholes at the WaPo are suggesting.
This is a town of about 9,000 people, and Ofc Morton is the second Officer murdered in LOD in the past 7 months.
Too young. This so sad.
Rest in peace Officer Morton. God be with your family.
Well shit.
RIP Officer Morton, my condolences to his friends and family.
Rest in Peace.
You deserve better than to have died by the hand of a piece of shit.
This STINKS to high heaven! The dispatcher just happens to send these officers to the wrong town 15 miles from where they were supposed to be and this knee growth just “HAPPENS” to be boarded up and waiting for them? This was a setup/entrapment imho!!