Police Officer Chris Walsh was shot and killed as he and another officer confronted an active shooter at a convenience store.

On March 15, 2020, at 11:24 p.m., Springfield Police Officers were dispatched to the area of Battlefield Rd. and Lone Pine Ave. regarding a shooting. While en route, multiple shooting calls were received, including one at 2100 S Ingram Mill and another at Sunshine and Hwy 65.

Another call came in at 11:43 and officers were dispatched to the Kum & Go conventience store located at 2885 E Chestnut Expressway regarding another shooting. We believe one individual is responsible for each of these incidents. Callers at the Kum & Go reported a vehicle crashing at the scene and an armed suspect entering the store and shooting customers and employees.

Officer Josiah Overton and Officer Christopher Walsh were first to arrive and were immediately fired upon by the suspect.

Other responding officers arrived, removed the two injured officers and made entry into the store where they found the suspect deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Also discovered at the scene, three other deceased parties and a fourth with a gunshot wounds who was transported to a hospital for treatment.

Officer Josiah Overton, a two year veteran of the department, sustained non-life threatening injuries and was treated at a local hospital.

Officer Christopher Walsh suffered a gunshot wound and passed away at the hospital.

Officer Walsh was also in the Army Reserves beginning shortly after his graduation in 2008 from Ozarks Technical Community College’s Paramedic/EMS Program as an Emergency Medical Technician. He achieved the rank of Sergeant, in the U.S. Army, and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2008-09, and Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010-11, operating as a convoy security element, and as a logistical convoy lead vehicle scout during which he received a Combat Action Badge, and other decorations. Officer Walsh was survived by a wife and daughter.

Officer Walsh was the first Springfield police officer to be killed in the line of duty since the 1932 Young Brothers Massacre.

Article by Brent Marchant