BATES COUNTY, Mo. – A five-hour standoff ended with a man dead inside a house in Bates County, Missouri.
A spokesman for Missouri Highway Patrol said officers from the Bates County Sheriff’s Department and Highway Patrol troopers tried to serve a search warrant at a home at 4501 County Road at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The arrest warrant was for 45-year-old Douglas S. Miller, a resident of the address, who was wanted for alleged felonies in Pasco County, Florida and in Cook County, Illinois.
When officers announced their presence and entered the house, someone inside fired a gun at them. Officers returned fire and retreated from the residence. During the exchange, a trooper sustained minor injuries when he was shot in his bulletproof vest.
If not for a bulletproof vest, that officer might not have survived the shooting.
“It did the job,” said Sergeant Scott Meyer of the Missouri Highway Patrol. “The trooper has very minor injuries, just a little bit of bruising. You know what, he’s going to get to go home to his family and that’s what we’re thankful for.”
Negotiation attempts by police were unsuccessful. At about 8:30 Tuesday evening, officers inserted a pole camera through a window in the house and saw a person slumped over on the floor. They then entered the house and found the body of a white male. They have not yet released his identity.
An autopsy to determine the exact cause of death for the man is scheduled for Thursday, July 2nd.
Another resident of the house, 53-year-old Nicki Lynn of Adrian, Missouri was arrested shortly after the standoff ended. Highway patrol troopers arrested Lynn for hindering prosecution of a felon, and took her to the Bates County jail.
