“Just about everybody that you can think of that wears a badge pitched in yesterday to help us handle that situation,” he said.
Officers from the St Joseph Police Department were joined by Buchanan County Sheriff’s deputies, members of the Special Response Team and Drug Strike Force, Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and officers.
There was at least one team from The St Joseph Fire Department, three Buchanan County ambulances, members of the bomb squad and an agent with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Wilson says a lot of safety considerations were deliberated during the eleven-hour ordeal. First and foremost was the safety of a woman being held hostage after she was shot in the arm.
“We have responsibility to do everything in our power to protect that hostage, that shooting victim,” he said.
Rebecca Urban, 41, St Joseph, was transported to the K.U. Medical Center for treatment that Wilson said were serious, but not life-threatening.
“We also in our safety priorities have to consider what we refer to as innocent bystanders, anybody that might be around, as it’s evolving, and try to consider the possibilities of what could happen.”
When you consider the view of I-29 from that second-floor balcony, you realize there would have been a lot of drive-by bystanders.
“The subject was armed. We encountered gunfire. Not knowing what he was fully capable of at the time, and where all those rounds could go, we determined that it was the safe thing to do was to shut down the interstate,” Captain Wilson said.
“The room faced the highway, and not knowing exactly what his firearm was at the time, it was determined ‘better safe than sorry.’ ”