Missouri FF/PM shot and killed. Ryan Hummert had just short of one year on the Maplewood Fire Department.
Top picture is of FF/PM Ryan Hummert shot and killed in Maplewood, MO this morning. Bottom image from the murder scene.
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The mayor of Maplewood, MO confirms FF/PM Ryan Hummert was killed and two police officers were wounded after responding to a car fire. Maplewood is eight miles west of St. Louis.
Hummert had been with the department just short of a year and is the son of a former mayor of Maplewood.
The story is still unfolding as the suspect is believed to be inside a burning house.
Details from our sister station KSDK-TV:
Tracy Panus, a spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police Department, said officials did not know the status of a suspect inside a burning home on Zephyr, off of Big Bend in Maplewood, eight miles west of St. Louis.
Black smoke could be seen rising above a tree line where a home was burning at 10:30a.m.
Lamira Martin, who lives across the street from the home, said live on NewsChannel 5 that the home was an “inferno” and that she heard possible explosions around 10:30 a.m.
NewsChannel 5 crews saw an armored vehicle from the St. Louis County tactical unit heading towards the home, and then they spotted black smoke.
Media crews were kept away from the scene and television helicopters were not allowed to fly in the area.
The Maplewood Fire Department said Ryan Hummert, 22, a paramedic and firefighter was shot and killed after he got out of his fire truck at the scene of the car fire, across the street from the burning home around 5:40 a.m.
Hummert started working for the department in August 2007. He was a 2004 graduate of Rockwood Summit High School and was the son of former Maplewood Mayor Andy Hummert and his mother, Jackie Hummert.
Eric Clark from St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond Heights confirmed an injured police officer was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the emergency room. Clark would did not release the officer’s agency affiliation.
The Mayor of Maplewood said a second police officer was injured in the shooting and was being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Panus said the initial call came out as a car fire to the Maplewood Fire Department around 5:40 a.m.
While at the scene of the car fire, NewsChannel 5 crews heard shots fired and a home across the street from the burning car also caught on fire.
St. Louis County police have not released the exact sequence of events.
The tactical unit and bomb squad from the St. Louis County police department took control of the scene at 8:30 a.m and surrounded the burning home.
Linda Mattus, who lives nearby told NewsChannel 5, police came to her door and told her a police officer had been shot and she needed to evacuate her home. Mattus said she was told it could be hours until she is let back in her home.
Big Bend was closed from Manchester to Dale. There is no word on when the street will reopen.
Donations in honor of Hummert may be mailed to Backstoppers at 10411 Clayton Rd., suite 5A in St. Louis 63131.
