Mo. Police Officer, Suspect Fatally Shot in Motel Shootout

A Missouri police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded in a motel shootout that also left a suspect dead early Thursday.

The incident happened shortly before 12:30 a.m. as Bonne Terre police were responding to a call about a disturbance at a Motel 6, KTVI-TV reports. When Officer Lane Burns and Cpl. Garrett Worley reached the room, a man opened fire as he walked out, according to The Associated Press.

Both officers were struck by gunfire, and they returned fire. The suspect was killed in the exchange.

Burns was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He later died of his injuries.

Worley was wounded in the leg. He was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital and was undergoing surgery. 

“We're still trying to piece together what he was doing in Bonne Terre,” Dallas Thompson, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the incident at the request of the Bonne Terre Police Department, told the AP. “We don't know if he was just passing through for the night or if he was staying in the area for some reason.”

Burns, who was in his early 30s, had been with the department for five years. Worley, 28, is a seven-year department veteran.