Police Officer Gary Michael was shot and killed during a traffic stop.

On August 6, 2017 at approximately 10:45 pm, Officer Michael stopped a vehicle in the area of East Green Street and North 2nd Street for a suspected registration violation. The driver immediately exited the vehicle and opened fire. Despite being mortally wounded, Officer Michael was able to return fire. The suspect fled the scene in the vehicle but crashed two blocks away and fled on foot. Henry County warrants for first-degree murder and armed criminal action were issued for suspect Ian McCarthy, who was apprehended without incident on 08/08/2017 at 6:15 pm while walking along a state highway a mile south of Bucksaw Marina in the rural Clinton area.

Officer Michael was born in Kansas City, Missouri on Friday September 14, 1979. He went to Clinton High School where he participated in JROTC and graduated in the spring of 1998. After graduation he entered into the United States Army, where he trained as a Military Police Officer. He was honorably discharged and pursued other careers until he followed his dream to become a police officer joining the Appleton City, Missouri Police Department in May 2016, then the Clinton Police Department in the fall of 2016.

Officer Michael was survived by his wife, Cresinda B. Michael of Clinton, Missouri; step children Devin Young and wife Alysha, Danielle Jensby and husband Josh, Dalton Young and Andrew Yohe; Grandchild Taylor Young.

Officer Michael's funeral was August 12, 2017 at the Benson Convention Center, Clinton, Missouri. Interred: Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Missouri.