Bearcat06
02-11-2005, 01:39
Officer Bowden dies of injuries
By the Tribune’s staff
Published on columbiatribune.com Thursday, February 10, 2005
Columbia police Officer Molly Bowden died Thursday of gunshot wounds she suffered Jan. 10 after stopping a motorist for a traffic violation.
Bowden, 26, was struck three times by gunfire in the neck and shoulder.
Columbia police Maj. Sam Hargadine said in a news release that the department learned about 1:30 p.m. Thursday that Bowden had died of those injuries.
“Officer Bowden gave a valiant effort and will be deeply missed,” Hargadine said in the news release. “Our heartfelt appreciation goes to this community who has supported the Bowden and Thomas family along with their Police Department during this difficult time.”
The wife of Columbia police Officer Corey Bowden, Molly Bowden was the daughter of Dave and Beverly Thomas of Rocheport.
Funeral arrangements are pending and an update will be released at a later time, Hargadine said.
Bowden was wounded at Forum and Nifong boulevards after stopping Rick Evans, 23, of Columbia in his car. Her patrol car’s video camera recorded the crime as Evans shot Bowden once as she stood beside his car. Police said the camera also captured Evans’ firing at Bowden after she had fallen to the ground.
Bowden had been treated at University Hospital since her injury.
Evans died the next day of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after wounding Officer Curtis Brown. Wounded in the biceps, Brown was released a day after his injury from University Hospital.
http://www.showmenews.com/2005/Feb/20050210News051.asp
Officers, gunman wounded - Traffic stop sparks 10-hour manhunt.
By MIKE WELLS of the Tribune’s staff
Published Tuesday, January 11, 2005
A Columbia police officer investigating last night’s shooting of another officer also became a gunshot victim today before the suspect turned a gun on himself.
Police Chief Randy Boehm said at a news conference today that Officer Molly Bowden, 26, remained in critical but stable condition after surgery for numerous bullet wounds to her neck and shoulder area.
Boehm said Officer Curtis Brown, 36, was shot this morning in his right biceps and was in stable condition.
The suspect, Richard "Rick" T. Evans, 23, was in critical condition after shooting himself in the head, Boehm said.
Evans faces charges of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer, a Class A felony, and armed criminal action. Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Crane said he would likely file similar charges in the assault of Brown, but he wanted more information before making a decision.
At 9:50 p.m. yesterday, two Columbia residents spotted Bowden’s patrol car with its lights flashing at Forum Boulevard and Nifong Boulevard. They found her lying beside the road, and one of them used the officer’s radio to tell a dispatcher that she had been shot.
Before the gunfire, Boehm told reporters, Bowden pulled Evans’ car over for a traffic violation. After handing over his license and engaging in conversation, the chief said, Evans pulled out a gun and fired at Bowden, who retreated behind the suspect’s car.
Evans stepped out of his Mitsubishi Gallant and fired two more shots at Bowden, Boehm said, wounding her. The officer fell to the ground, Boehm said, and Evans walked over and fired two more rounds. All of the officer’s wounds were above her body armor.
"Officer Bowden attempted to return fire, but the suspect attacked so quickly, and there was no opportunity for her to do that," Boehm said.
Evans then returned to his car and drove away, Boehm said. Officers later found the vehicle abandoned at Nifong and Santiago Drive. They don’t know where he immediately went after leaving the car.
Video from a camera inside Bowden’s vehicle will be used as evidence against Evans, Boehm said. He declined to discuss whether any contraband was found in Evans’ car but acknowledged the suspect has previous drug arrests.
After Bowden’s shooting, police engaged in a massive manhunt until 7:31 a.m., when Park De Ville area residents heard two gunshots. Boehm said that Brown, who had staked out the neighborhood with other officers, had seen Evans trying to return to his parents’ home on Orleans Court.
Brown began chasing Evans, Boehm said. Evans ran through the back yard of a duplex at 3201 W. Worley St. and fired one gunshot, hitting Brown in the right biceps. Boehm said Evans then turned the gun on himself and fired once into his head.
The suspect’s father, Dave Evans, was city attorney for Columbia from 1982 to 1986, according to city records. He answered the phone at the family’s home this morning but said the family couldn’t speak at this time.
"We don’t know what happened," the suspect’s father said.
According to court records, Rick Evans pleaded guilty in 1998, when he was 17, to possession of alcohol by a minor and possession of drug paraphernalia. In both cases, he received suspended jail sentences and unsupervised probation.
In 1999, Evans’ parents petitioned the court for an order of protection against him after he allegedly wrecked their home and damaged a family car. He received a suspended jail sentence and probation after pleading guilty to second-degree property damage, stealing and peace disturbance.
Dave Evans said in his court petition that his son exhibited a continuing pattern of "violence, hate and rage" toward his parents. The father alleged the stress and tension created by his son caused him to suffer a heart attack that year.
Rick Evans’ most recent arrest occurred during a traffic stop Aug. 11, 2003. He later pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing up to 35 grams of marijuana and received probation.
As officers scoured the Park De Ville neighborhood for evidence and witnesses this morning, yellow crime scene tape cordoned off the block, stretching into back yards and winding between trees and balcony posts.
The shootings today occurred near Smithton Middle School, 3600 W. Worley St. Some students already were in school when the order came from police for the school to lock down, Assistant Superintendent Chris Mallory said. Paxton Keeley Elementary was less affected because its school day starts later.
"It’s been an interesting morning," said Mallory. "We heard a report that we needed to lock down, and we did."
The last Columbia officer wounded by a suspect’s gunfire was Shelley Jones in August 1996. She survived a shotgun blast because of body armor as she tried to stop a suspect at Gerbes Supermarket at 1729 W. Broadway.
Until Monday night, the last Columbia officer wounded by gunfire was Dan Beckman in 2001. Beckman was struck in the hand by gunfire from a fellow officer trying to stop a man from cutting Beckman with a shard of glass.
Story by MIKE WELLS of the Tribune’s staff - Published Sunday, February 6, 2005
Rick Evans was cold and wet, and he wanted to come inside. He knocked on the door of a friend’s home on Santiago Drive, but it was 5:30 a.m. and no one answered.
It had been nearly seven hours since Evans shot Columbia police Officer Molly Bowden, who had pulled over his black Mitsubishi Galant at Nifong and Forum boulevards. He was in trouble, and he needed help.
Still carrying the .380-caliber pistol, he ran to those who had helped him so many times before. It took two more hours to cross the six-mile distance to his parents’ house in the Park De Ville neighborhood. But he had nowhere else to go.
When he finally reached their yard, his clothes were damp and heavy from the dew and fog, but he ran toward the house at full sprint.
It was just then that Columbia police officers Mike Hayes and Catherine Dodd spotted Evans from their patrol car as he ran behind a neighbor’s house.
More police were nearby, and Officer Curtis Brown ran after Evans, chasing him north across Worley Street near the 3100 block. Two shots rang out.
Evans apparently had hidden behind the corner of a house at 3111 W. Worley St. and — obscured by a tall bush — fired at Brown as he came into the open, striking the officer in the arm. Evans then turned the weapon to his own head and pulled the trigger. Rushed to University Hospital, he would die within hours.
Evans’ violent last hours were over. But the questions were just beginning.
● ● ●
Officer Bowden began her workday Jan. 10 much like any of her other Monday shifts. It was 2:30 p.m., and the 26-year-old sat behind a row of tables in the police department’s downstairs briefing room with 10 other officers. As three patrol sergeants led a 30-minute shift meeting, Bowden took notes on the latest criminal cases and fugitives.
Over on the east side of town, Evans, a 23-year-old Columbia College student took advantage of what some would consider a good day to stay indoors. The overcast sky refused to warm the damp air. He spent most of the afternoon inside with his roommate, Jonathan Jennings, at their brown, wood-sided duplex at 1545 Sonora Drive.
But at 4 p.m., Evans climbed into his black Mitsubishi Galant with a load of dirty laundry and a .380-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol. He drove across the city to a friend’s home on Christian Fellowship Road, where they would watch videos. It would be a relaxing time. The marijuana he had brought with him would see to that. But Evans often was far from relaxed.
Some childhood playmates remember him as a violent, troubled boy, despite the love and support of his adoptive parents. Christina Ostrander said that when she first moved to the Park De Ville neighborhood, Evans beat her up and put dog feces in her hair. She said he shot a BB gun at her dog, her father’s car and another boy’s leg.
In 1999, Evans’ parents petitioned the court for an order of protection against him after he wrecked their home and damaged a family car. He again received probation after pleading guilty to second-degree property damage, stealing and peace disturbance.
But Evans’ real troubles with police heated up May 9, 2003, when an officer stopped his car on Broadway. Evans resisted arrest and fled on foot before being caught near Fourth Street. Police used Mace to subdue him.
The next day, officers again arrested Evans, this time at his then-residence, 1209 E. Ash St., where they found marijuana prepackaged for sale.
In the weeks after he shot Bowden and Brown, investigators learned that Evans hated police, swore he’d shoot a cop before going back to jail and even devised a plan to ambush police, Martin said.
In the scenario, Evans would park a car in a deserted area and place a false call for help. When police arrived, he’d open fire and take revenge.
One person told investigators that Evans said, “Police are f*****g with people’s lives, and at some point, you have to stand up for yourself.”
But lately, those who knew Evans thought his rage had subsided after he cut his hair and removed the beard. Days before the shootings, Evans resigned a job at a computer sales and service store so he could concentrate on his full-time studies at Columbia College.
● ● ●
By 5:30 p.m., Bowden had already checked out a fraud report at the Cingular cellular telephone store at 203 Nifong Blvd., assisted another officer in breaking up a fight between two juveniles at Sexton and Mary streets, and helped serve an arrest warrant on Arctic Fox Drive.
More minor calls followed: a misdialed 911 call and two suspicious-person calls. Finally, Bowden could take her 30-minute dinner.
She radioed in a “Code 7” at 7:52 p.m. and sat down with her parents, Dave and Beverly Thomas, at G&D Pizza and Steak at the Crossroads West Shopping Center. The West Broadway restaurant is her favorite.
They finished the meal, and Bowden radioed dispatchers of her return to duty at 8:23 p.m. Before leaving, she hugged her parents, saying, “I love you.” The Thomases left for their Rocheport farm, and their daughter went back on patrol.
Back in her car, Bowden placed a call to her pastor, Michael Burt of Grace Bible Church. She wanted to schedule an appointment for the following Wednesday to discuss parenting. Bowden is stepmother to two young boys from her husband’s previous marriage, and friends say she takes the role seriously.
About 10 minutes later, she drove to a house on Creek Front Way to check on a house alarm. She talked to the owner and left at 9:32 p.m., heading to a barking-dog complaint at Blue Cedar Lane and Bitterwood.
● ● ●
Across town, Evans had wrapped up his visit to Christian Fellowship Road, and he drove the short distance to his parents’ home at 205 Orleans Court to drop off his laundry. The stop was brief, and he left by 9:40 p.m. and headed for a small party on Santiago Drive.
By now, Bowden had cleared her barking-dog call and pulled into pulled into the Walgreens parking lot at Forum and Nifong. As patrol officers routinely do, she walked inside and talked to store employees.
The Rev. Burt’s teenage son, Josh, was working the night shift as a clerk. He’d bought a car last year from Bowden’s parents, and she joked with him about it.
“You’re going to have to watch how you drive,” she said, “because this is my beat now.” Bowden had started patrolling the southern portion of Columbia after Jan. 1.
“I will,” Josh replied.
“Yeah, you’d better because I know your folks,” Bowden said.
The visit was short, and Bowden left the store to continue her patrol.
Back inside her car, she was about to pull out of the parking lot when a black Mitsubishi Galant eastbound on Nifong caught her attention.
The officer then began a series of actions she had completed hundreds of times in her three years on the force. But this time, there would be no tickets, and certainly no warnings.
● ● ●
At 9:50 p.m., Bowden switches on the patrol car’s overhead flashing lights and radios joint communications to report she’s making a traffic stop.
Evans, not even a mile from his party on Santiago Drive, sees her car’s lights in his rearview mirror.
He steers the four-door sedan over to the eastbound shoulder across from Forum Boulevard Christian Church. He’s been in this situation before, and it’s never gone well.
But this time, he’s prepared to change the outcome.
Bowden parks behind him. She notes the Mitsubishi’s plate number, 199-TRR, and steps outside. So far, nothing appears out of the ordinary.
In the open air, low clouds and a heavy, gray fog make for a soupy night. A slight easterly wind chills the air’s damp 41 degrees. The nearest streetlight sits more than 100 feet away, but a soft glow drifts across the street from the church and from the traffic signals several dozen yards behind them.
Nineteen seconds after Bowden radios in, she’s standing at the black car’s driver’s side window.
Bowden identifies herself to the driver. He opens his wallet and hands her his driver’s license: Richard Thiel Evans. Born April 23, 1981. A Columbia resident.
Thirty-nine seconds of conversation pass.
Bowden can’t see that Evans has a semiautomatic handgun aimed her way and apparently doesn’t detect any odor of marijuana from his car.
Without warning, Evans looks at the officer and squeezes the trigger. Bowden is hit in the left shoulder.
The stunned officer turns and runs between their cars to seek cover.
Evans opens his door and follows with his handgun raised. Three seconds pass, and as Bowden moves between the cars he fires again, striking her neck.
The shot takes the officer down to the roadside.
Evans walks over and stands directly over Bowden as she lies face down next to his passenger side rear bumper. He fires a third shot and then a fourth.
One of the last two misses, but Evans hasn’t time to fire again. Cars are approaching. He sprints back to his sedan and quickly drives away.
Seven seconds later, a passenger car whisks by without stopping. Twenty-eight seconds after that, a second car slowly approaches and stops. Two people get out.
One of them grabs Bowden’s portable radio. It is now four minutes after Bowden initiated the traffic stop, and Officer John Gordon hears a voice come over his car radio:
“Hello? Hello?”
Within seconds, joint communications dispatchers broadcast three tones, indicating that an officer is down, and other officers rush to the scene.
Gordon is driving north on Providence Road. He immediately turns around and heads toward the call. When he arrives at 9:57 p.m., Officer Kevin Purdy is already kneeling next to Bowden.
Purdy looks up and asks for help.
Bowden is face down, and a large amount of blood pools close to her head. Gordon brings emergency medical equipment from his car and rushes over to her.
He asks Purdy whether Bowden has a pulse, but Purdy doesn’t know. Gordon supports Bowden’s neck and feels for a carotid pulse.
It’s there, but he sees that her pupils are fixed and dilated.
Gordon looks at Purdy. “We’re going to roll her onto her back so I can assess her better,” he says.
He can’t see any apparent wounds, but there’s a lot of blood around her neck and face. The men roll her over, and Bowden coughs.
Alarmed that she might choke, they roll her onto her right side, and Gordon tries to clear her airway. But Bowden’s jaw is locked shut, and Gordon can’t get it parted.
He monitors her breathing and pulse, and when firefighters arrive, he asks for a suction unit. He looks on the right side of her neck and sees what appears to be a bullet hole. But the sheer amount of blood makes it too difficult to see clearly.
By then, paramedics have arrived, and they open Bowden’s shirt. Gordon examines the area above her ballistic vest, but he doesn’t see any ammunition rounds. But he spots another gunshot entry wound on her left shoulder. Medics prepare Bowden for ambulance transport and place a neck collar on her as she’s put on a backboard and stretcher.
And then Gordon sees something that tells him how little time the wounded officer had to react: Bowden’s firearm is still in its holster, and the thumb snap is still fastened.
With the wounded officer on the way to an emergency room at University Hospital, Gordon walks over to her car. He opens the door and looks at her in-car camera, which is still recording.
He walks to the back of the car, opens the trunk and ejects the only witness to the execution-style shooting from the tape vault.
● ● ●
After Bowden was shot, police knew almost immediately whom they were looking for — Evans’ driver’s license and wallet were left on the ground.
Within minutes, a Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant found Evans’ car abandoned on Santiago Drive in front of an apartment building. Inside the car, police found a .380-caliber ammunition clip and three small bags of marijuana.
The same night, Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Crane spoke on the phone with the suspect’s father. Dave Evans told Crane that the family was shocked at the news because they’d believed the young man had put his problems with the law behind him.
In the suspect’s bedroom on Sonora Drive, police found an assault rifle, seven ammunition clips, a full box of ammunition, a loaded 100-round ammunition drum, two knives, two swords, a pair of brass knuckles and an ammunition clip for a .380-caliber handgun.
Investigators also found a “survival” backpack, camouflage clothing, $104 in cash, a bong, three plastic bags of marijuana, a scale with baggies and a metal box with drug paraphernalia.
● ● ●
Bowden’s fight continues.
In the weeks since she was shot, she’s endured multiple surgeries to remove bullet fragments and gauge the damage. Her family members, including her husband, Columbia police Officer Corey Bowden, were initially enthused when days after the shooting, she opened her eyes and moved her head a few times. But a recent fever and infection have since endangered her again. She remains in a drug-induced coma.
nwfiregirl
02-12-2005, 10:07
I hate reading about stories like this. God bless her and all law enforcement officers, you all are guardian angles.
My thoughts and prayers are with her, her family, and her department.
Bearcat06
02-12-2005, 17:48
We got a teletype yesterday saying the funeral will be in Columbia at 1 p.m., Tuesday, in Mizzou Arena, 1 Champion Drive, off Mick Deaver Drive on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus. Anyone that is wanting to be in the motorcade is asked to be there at least an hour before the service starts.
vBulletin® v3.6.8, Copyright ©2000-2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.