Clinton police officer Christopher Morton was shot and killed after responding to a disturbance call.

On Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 9:20 pm three officers responded to a 911 hangup call in in the 300 block of West Grand Avenue in which two women were heard screaming in the background. The officers encountered a woman at the front door and entered to check on the welfare of the second woman in the house. Once inside the house, a male suspect opened fire on the officers from inside the home with a semi-automatic rifle. All three officers were wounded but returned fire. The officers were taken to an area hospital where Officer Morton succumbed to his wounds.

The suspect, convicted felon James Waters, barricaded himself inside a room in the home for several hours. A SWAT team entered the home at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday and found Waters dead. The women in the house at the time were not injured. It was later determined that the officers had been misdirected to the wrong residence by an error in the 911 system.

Officer Morton had served as both a reserve officer and full-time officer with the Clinton Police Department for three years as well as serving as a police officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He had recently returned to full-time status with Clinton Police Department following the line of duty death of Police Officer Gary Michael on August 6th, 2017. He was a veteran of the Army National Guard and had been twice deployed, serving in both Afghanistan and Kosovo where he served as a combat engineer and a radio communications manager. He was survived by his parents and siblings.