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Suspect enters plea in MSSU Coach’s Death

A 39-year-old Joplin man has pleaded not guilty to the fatal shooting of an assistant football coach at Missouri Southern State University.

Derek Moore
Derek Moore was in his first year as offensive line coach at MSSU

Jeffrey Bruner is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Nov. 1 death of 37-year-old Derek Moore outside a Joplin movie theater.

Online court records show Bruner pleaded not guilty Thursday in Jasper County Circuit Court. He’s being held without bond in the county jail, with his next hearing set for Nov. 27.

Moore was shot several times in the parking lot of a theater where he had gone with Bruner’s estranged wife.

The university plans a moment of silence for him at Saturday’s game against Lindenwood-Belleville.

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