GOODMAN, Mo. — A 28-year-old man who was involved in a domestic dispute shot a McDonald County deputy in the leg Wednesday before taking his own life with the same gun during a vehicle pursuit, authorities said.
Deputy Kenen Martinez was shot in the thigh about 12:30 p.m. in an exchange of gunfire with Alvis Davis outside the Drake Apartments on Route C in Goodman, according to authorities.
Both Martinez and Davis lived in the two-story building with six apartments. The deputy, who lived in an upstairs unit, was off duty and in street clothes when a domestic disturbance took place between Davis and his girlfriend in an apartment below, according to Sheriff Robert Evenson.
Evenson said the deputy went down to investigate and was shot.
“Davis pulled a gun on him and started shooting,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff said Martinez had responded to previous disturbances at the apartment building involving Davis, so Davis knew he was a deputy. He said Martinez was shot at close quarters soon after confronting Davis outside the downstairs apartment. Davis is believed to have fired more than one shot and wounded Martinez before the deputy was able to draw his own weapon and return fire, Evenson said.
BULLETS FLY
“Kenen said he fell to the ground and the bullets were still hitting around his head,” Evenson said.
He said both men moved toward vehicles in the parking lot east of the apartment building as the exchange continued. Martinez reportedly managed to get a vehicle between him and Davis. The vehicle was left with a bullet hole in a driver’s side window.
Capt. Bud Gow of the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department said Davis was believed to have fired at least three rounds at the deputy and that the deputy may have fired back as many as seven rounds. The sheriff said an accurate accounting of the number of rounds fired by each man had yet to be made.
Davis fled the scene in a pickup truck. It was spotted by Newton County deputies about half an hour later, and a pursuit ensued.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said the pursuit ended a few minutes later about a mile south of Seneca on Missouri Highway 43. Copeland said the suspect was northbound on the highway and headed toward the intersection with U.S. Highway 60, where the sheriff and some deputies were waiting to intercept him. But the truck left the road and crashed about a mile before the junction.
“He apparently shot himself while driving and then crashed,” Copeland said. “No officers fired a shot, and no officers were injured here.”
Davis was pronounced dead at the scene. Copeland said it remained unclear if he had been shot more than once. He said an autopsy scheduled today at Cox Medical Center South in Springfield would determine the number of wounds.
A gun recovered from the truck is believed to have been the same weapon with which the deputy was shot, Copeland said.
WOUND IN QUESTION
Evenson said there was a possibility that one of the deputy’s rounds might have struck Davis in the abdomen. He said it was unclear if an injury to the deceased man’s abdomen had been caused by a gunshot or the crash.
The woman involved in the domestic disturbance did not require treatment of any injuries. Evenson said she may have helped save the deputy’s life by shouting to him that Davis had a gun as Martinez was confronting him. The warning caused the deputy to start to move as he was being shot, Evenson said.
Martinez was taken to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin for treatment of his wound. The sheriff said the bullet passed through his thigh, missing the femoral artery. He was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday night.
Evenson said he has asked the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate the officer-involved shooting. Martinez has been a deputy with the McDonald County Sheriff’s Department for four years. Before that, he served as a jailer.
“I’m thankful my deputy is alive and well, and his injuries weren’t any worse than they were,” Evenson said. “And my sympathies go out to Mr. Davis’ family.”
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