Detective shot in Poplar Bluff

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff police detective was shot once Thursday morning as officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on a man inside a Kinzer Street apartment building.

Detective Corey Mitchell was hit in an arm by one of the multiple shots allegedly fired by James Odell Johnson Jr., who then barricaded himself inside the apartment for about one and a half hours.

After ongoing negotiations, officers led a handcuffed woman, identified as Johnson's girlfriend, outside, followed moments later by the 28-year-old Poplar Bluff man at 9:50 a.m.

As officers remained on the scene at about 10:30 a.m., police Lt. Josh Stewart said, Mitchell was "getting ready to go into surgery.

"It's my understanding they are going to remove the projectile and secure it for evidence," Stewart said.

Poplar Bluff police officers take position near an apartment building Thursday morning after an officer was shot in the arm while helping a U.S. marshal serve a federal warrant to James Odell Johnson Jr., who surrendered to authorities after about a one-and-a-half-hour standoff.Paul Davis ~ Daily American Republic

Stewart said a second officer from an assisting agency also was struck in the vest, but was uninjured.

The officers were shot while "trying to arrest the suspect (Johnson) on a warrant," Stewart said. "U.S. marshal officers were here to assist."

Johnson was wanted on a federal indictment related to gun charges.

Upon knocking on the apartment door, "they were contacted by a female," Stewart said. "They removed her from the apartment and began to enter."

At that point, "the suspect began firing," Stewart said. "My understanding is officers did return fire. I don't know who or how many."

At about 8:25 a.m., police Cpl. Shonna Parrent came over the scanner saying she needed "all units and multiple ambulances" to respond to 624 Kinzer St., cautioning those responding to "not drive in front" of that address.

Multiple police patrol officers and detectives responded, as well as members of the Butler County Sheriff's Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Officers took up defensive positions around the building, as well as across the street, as negotiations began with Johnson, who, Stewart said, had barricaded himself inside a bedroom.

The Highway Patrol and its Division of Drug and Crime Control has been asked to investigate the officer-involved shooting, Stewart said.