Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton

Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton | Clinton Police Department, Missouri Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton | Clinton Police Department, Missouri
Clinton Police Department, Missouri
Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton | Clinton Police Department, Missouri Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton | Clinton Police Department, Missouri
Police Officer Christopher Ryan Morton

Clinton Police Department, Missouri

End of Watch Tuesday, March 6, 2018

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Christopher Ryan Morton

Police Officer Christopher Morton was shot and killed when he and two other officers responded to an unknown situation as the result of a 911 call at approximately 9:20 p.m.

The call taker could hear screaming in the background on the call, but the caller did not otherwise communicate and hung up before officers arrived on scene. As the officers arrived at the home in the 300 Block of West Grand River Street a male subject opened fire on them with a semi-automatic rifle. The officers returned fire and entered the home in an attempt to take the man into custody. The man continued firing, wounding all three officers.

Officer Morton remained in a bedroom for approximately 15 minutes before being rescued by the other responding officers. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

The subject then barricaded himself inside the home for several hours. A SWAT team entered the home shortly after midnight and located the subject deceased.

The ensuing investigation revealed that the original 911 call had been made from a home approximately 15 miles away and officers were dispatched to the wrong location when the call was traced to a different address. The male subject who opened fire on the officers was out on bail for weapons and methamphetamine charges and was under investigation for a rape.

Following Officer Morton's murder, the female at the home was charged as an accessory to murder in the first degree, two counts of assault in the first degree, distribution of methamphetamine and other offenses.

Officer Morton had served as both a reserve officer and full-time officer with the Clinton Police Department for three years. He had recently returned to full-time status following the line-of-duty death of Police Officer Gary Michael on Aug. 6, 2017. He was a veteran of the Army National Guard and is survived by his parents and siblings.

Bio

  • Age 30
  • Tour 3 years
  • Badge 319
  • Military Veteran

Incident Details

  • Cause Gunfire
  • Weapon Rifle
  • Offender Deceased

narcotics, 911 hangup

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Today, I will not answer the radio call that you boyfriend has come home drunk and is beating you again. Today I will not answer the radio call that your 16 year old daughter, who is very responsible, is four hours late coming home from school. Today I will not answer the radio call that your store has been robbed or your house has been burglarized. Today I will not stop a drunk driver from killing someone. I will not catch a rapist or a murder or a car theft. Today I will not answer the radio call that a man has a gun or tried to abduct a child or that someone has been stabbed or has been in a terrible accident. Today I will not save your child that you locked in the car or the child you were to busy to watch who went outside and fell into swimming pool. No, today I will not do that. Why? Because Today I was killed be a drunk driver while I was helping push a disabled car off the highway. Today I was was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop to simply tell someone that they has taillight out. Today I was killed in traffic accident rushing to help a citizen. Today I was shot and killed serving a warrant on a know drug dealer. Today I was killed be a man when I came by to do a welfare check because his family was to busy. Today I was killed trying to stop a bank robbery or a grocery store robbery. Today I was killed doing my job.

A chaplain and a officer will go to a house and tell a mom and dad or a wife or husband or mother or father I won’t be coming home today. The flags at many police stations were flown at half-mast but most people won’t know why. There will be a funeral and my fellow officers will come, a twenty-one-gun salute will be given, and taps will be played as I am laid to rest my name will be put on a plaque , on a wall , in a building, in a city somewhere. A folded flag will be placed on a mantel or a bookcase in a home somewhere and a family will morn.

There will be no cries for justices. There will be no riots in the streets. There will be no officers marching , screaming “no justice, no peace.” No citizens will scream that something must be done. No windows will be smashed, no cars burned , no stones thrown,no names called. Only someone crying themselves to sleep tonight will be the only sign that I was cared about.
I was a police officer

Kaitlyn Lengel

May 22, 2019

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