SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A man involved in a shootout with Springfield police Friday died after wounding a detective, police said.
The man fired at a detective who was serving a search warrant early Friday. The officer was struck by a bullet and returned fire, striking the suspect, The Springfield News Leader reported. The unidentified suspect then emerged from the house and exchanged gunfire again with police.
"It was all one continuous event from the moment he started shooting at officers when they were serving the search warrant," Springfield Police Lt. Ben King said.
The detective who was grazed by a bullet was treated at the scene. The cause of the suspect's death has not been determined, he said.
King said he could not discuss the nature of the search warrant but said police had been at the house for hours for a "prior investigation" before the shooting started. King would not describe the nature of that investigation.
Police Chief Paul Williams said at a news conference that officers tried to pull over a pickup truck early Friday morning for not having license plates, but the driver fled and eventually wrecked and abandoned the vehicle.
The chief said officers followed footprints in the snow to a home where the suspect was believed to have holed up, and later obtained a search warrant.
At some point while serving the search warrant, the suspect began a gun battle inside the home and it ended outside with the shooter's death.
Williams said the detective was shot in the right side of his back, rather than suffering a graze, as had been reported by the department earlier.