NEW MADRID COUNTY, Mo. -- A Missouri State Highway patrolman from Troop E is improving in a Cape Girardeau hospital today after being shot in the upper chest area during a traffic stop on Interstate 55 in New Madrid County Saturday night.
While Corporal Shane Stewart is expected to make a full recovery from the gunshot wound, one man was killed, another was injured, and three individuals now face charges of murder in the second degree.
According to Troop E Information Officer Trooper Clark Parrott, a state trooper traveling I-55 at about 10 p.m. Saturday made a traffic stop near mile marker 56. When drug activity was suspected, the trooper kept the vehicle roadside and requested assistance from Stewart, who was in the area.
"While speaking with one of the four occupants outside of the vehicle," Parrott explained, "another passenger, still in the vehicle, began firing a handgun at one of the troopers."
One of the shots struck Stewart in the neck. Although disabled by the shot, Stewart was able to return fire, Parrot said, as did the other trooper at the scene.
The shooter, identified Monday as Michael D. Thomas, 26, of Dallas, Texas, was struck and killed. He was pronoucned dead at the scene.
Thomas, it was later learned, was wanted for harassment of a public servant and for aggravated assault with a weapon in the state of Texas. Another passenger in the vehicle was also shot in the exchange, Parrott said. That individual has been identified as Maurice A. Ely, 18, of Mesquite, Texas. He and the injured patrolman were airlifted from the scene. Both were taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.
The driver of the vehicle, 42-year-old Tonya M. Brown, of Dallas, Texas, and the two passengers, Ely and Jermaine K. Dennis, 24, of Mesquite, Texas, were arrested following the shootings. Brown and Dennis were transported to the New Madrid County Jail. The three have been charged not only with possession of more than 35 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute, but each also with murder in the second degree.
The murder charges stem from the fact that the shooting death of the passenger in the vehicle came as a result of a felony being committed. Trooper Parrott explained to The Daily Statesman on Monday that although the scenario doesn't occur often, murder charges have been brought before on parties whose participation in a crime was connected with an individual's death.
"These individuals were in the commission of a felony (two pounds of pot was confiscated at the scene) when the individual was killed," Trooper Parrott explained. "Their actions led to the individual's (Thomas') death."
According to Parrott, Cpl. Shane Stewart remains in the hospital, but was able to sit up and see family members on Monday.
"He's in good spirits," Parrott said of the 12-year patrol veteran from Charleston, "and expected to fully recover from his injuries."