MAPLEWOOD, Mo., July 21 (UPI) -- A rookie firefighter was slain and two police officers wounded Monday in a St. Louis suburb by a gunman who may have been in a nearby house, officials said.
Authorities had surrounded a burning house in Maplewood, Mo., Monday afternoon, believing the killer of 22-year-old firefighter Ryan Hummert may still be inside, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.
Hummert and two police officers were struck by bullets as they responded to a report of a car burning in a driveway at 5:45 a.m., authorities said. Soon after the shootings, the house erupted in a fire. Police sharpshooters were arrayed around the home in case the shooter emerged, the Post-Dispatch reported.
"We've lost Ryan in the line of duty doing what he loved, he will be missed," Maplewood Fire Chief Terry Merrell said, adding that Hummert was the son of the town's former mayor.
