Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
National Sponsors
| April 18, 2000 The Excelsior Springs Standard |  |
|
©
The Excelsior Springs Standard. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 1 (1 of 16 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
April 18, 2000 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
Tiger tennis team
bounces back with
three,team sweep.
Tomorrow's WEATHER .:, ,, : ........ , ,,
A chance of rain o Wednesday and ursday, with temps
droppingafterat frorn'tti70s into e 60s. Lows in the 40s,
Today'"S Weotl'ferKld, Allle Holland, Elkhom SChOOl
] T ]ill]l ]] ' ]]]]]]][ ]] ] ] ] ] ]]]]
Greatest'
is Saturday
The World's Greatest Easter
Hunt & Story Time. pre-
by Grace Family War-
Center, will be held at 2
this Saturday, April 22. at
Accelerated Elementary
Registration to win one of
bicycles and other prizes
1 p.m.
For more information, call
or 630-1317.
is at Furniture
tomorrow
The Excelsior Springs Area •
:f Commerce will hold
Coffee from 7!30-9
tomorrow at Furniture
1325 Italian Way. ,
The coffees are held as an
for local Chamber
to familiarize
with other Chamber
and their businesses,
of May 15-19;
a.m. onthe regu.
day, but the
picked uP
Leaves and grass clippings
in biodegradable bags,
in =ameter
be ed with ne in
Heartland SE,a pro-
that encourages
ging the incentive
packages,
its monthly k-up
for the next month
| a.m, on S=urday, April 29,
Christian
417 Concoue Ave;'
Towne Exceisor Spdngs,
For more information, cam
Pat Fairley at 630,1207,
program, art
are tonight
Lewis Accelerated Be-
ttwo
Apri!
, starting at 6 p:m.
"Music of Mexico"
at the schooli and '
an: aJl:sool
asium area
• <iergarten
911 call leads to death
Officer shoots and kills
man at local mobile home
By ERIC COPELAND
Managing Editor
A man is dead and an officer
is on administrative leave fol-
lowinga shooting incident in the
Excelsior Manor Mobile Home
Community Saturday.
Excelsior Springs Police
Chief John McGovern said local
police received a 911 call from
what they believe was a male
caller at about 3:52 p.m. on Sat-
urday.
The man, who did not iden-
tify himself, said that someone
was in his residence who did not
belong there, then hung up.
Four officers responded to the
scene and found the door to the
trailer open and the screen in the
front yard.
Two officers went to the back
of the trailer to cover the outside,
and the other two entered the
front door and were confronted
by 37-year-old Jeffrey D. Hodges,
Excelsior Springs. Hodges was
wielding a knife described by the
officers as a hunting knife.
The officer ordered Hedges
to drop the knife, but he contin-
ued to advance. McGovern said
one officer managed to get out of
the way but the other, a five-year
veteran of Excelsior Springs Po-
lice Department, was backed up
against a wall.
He fired twice, striking
Hedges twice in the chest.
Hedges was pronounced dead
at the scene.
McGovern said the investi-
gation was turned over to the
Missouri State Highway Patrol,
and the officer who fired the shots
was placed on administrative
leave during the investigation.
The other officers were given
leave the night of the shooting,
McGovern said, but the two who
remained outside were put back
on the road Sunday.
The officer who entered the
trailer but did not shoot was not
placed on leave, but he is attend-
ing training which had been ar-
ranged prior to the incident.
McGovern said such incidents
are rare for any department, espe-
cially the local one.
"Nothing like this has hap-
pened in my memory, and I've
been here 26 years," he said Mon-
day. "Ninety-nine point nine per-
cent of all law enforcement offic-
ers go through their entire careers
never being in this position."
He said that counseling will
be made available not only to the
officers directly involved in the
incident, but to all the personnel
on the department.
"It's devastating to the offic-
ers involved," he said, "but it also
affects the entire department."
He said the prosecutor was
expected to review the c;L so,,
but added he could not identify
the officers until the prosecutor is
finished.
In the meantime, with one
officer on administrative leave
and another undergoing training,
McGovern still said the depart-
ment was not particularly short-
handed.
"Actually, it won't have much
of an im pact with regard to how
many guys we have out there," he
said Monday.
The trailer in which the shooting occurred was cordoned off with police tape for the
Missouri State Highway Patrol's investigation. The officer who fired the shots is on
administrative leave, and the others have returned either to service or to planned
training. (Photo by Eric Copeland)
police deal with
human side of incident
By AMY BRANT
Standard Staff Writer
:': In the 26 years Excelsior
Springs police Chief John
ilcGovern has be'',on <the
. force, he said he can't recall-
ever having one of the
department's officers facing a
situation like the shooting of
Jeffrey Hedges last Saturday,
although there have been of-
fleers shot at in the past.
"This particular incident
was handled by the book," said
McGovern. '`The officer was
put in a situation where he had
,, , , ,
no other alternative. It's a situa-
tion you never think will happen
to you."
)al't.
ing crisis intervention counsel.
ing for about eight or nine of the
officers and dispatchers involved
in the case. He said two officers
were inside the trailer at the time
and were more directly involved.
"Those inside were more dra-
matically affected," stated
McGovern. He said several other
officers responded to the inci-
dent and it has affected all of
them, including two dispatch-
ers, one of which was in train-
ing.
McGornsaid it's been a
officer who actually did the
shooting.
" "He got highs and lows,"
said McGovem."lt's very dif.
fieult for him to deal with."
Although training is done
for situations such as this,
McGovern said it is only train-
ing.
"The emotional:impact
See LOCAL, page 9
, , , t,, ,
Drama
team
takes
third
By ERIC COPELAND
Managing Editor
The Excelsior Springs High
School Drama Team took third
place at their state competition
last weekend at Columbia
Hickman High School.
Sponsor Rebecca Browning
said the three judges gave the
students scores of 1, 2, and 5.
"It was the 5 that killed us,"
she said. "But the 1 came from
an MU theatre professor with a
Ph.D. who was very complimen-
tary of the kids, so that helped us
a lot."
Friday's competition, com-
prising two fields of 10 teams
apiece, determined the two
teams--the top ones from Fri-
day--which would compete
Saturday.
The Liberty team, the only
other one from our district, took
See DRAMA, page 10
i/+: :i ' ::: !i i - i: ¸¸¸¸¸i!ii ,@i!'ii!iii,i
sink: :
, ; !!i!i ¸?!III :¸ : '