Man accused of killing Mo. officer faces charges

HERMANN, Mo. -- A man accused of fatally shooting one officer and wounding another at a small-town Missouri convenience store was charged Tuesday with murder and four other crimes.

Prosecutors charged 35-year-old Kenneth Lee Simpson of St. Louis County with first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. A judge ordered him held without bond.

Simpson does not yet have an attorney. An arraignment hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

The shooting happened Sunday night at a convenience store in Hermann, a town of 2,100 residents about 80 miles west of St. Louis. Detective Sgt. Mason Griffith, 34, of the Hermann Police Department died, and officer Adam Sullentrup, 31, was hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said.

Simpson was captured Monday at a home near the store after a police tactical team fired tear gas into the house.

Simpson has a long history of criminal charges involving drugs, weapons offenses, assault and property damage.