COLLATERAL

Missouri SWAT Officer’s Stray Bullet Kills 2-Year-Old Girl

The officer was responding to a domestic disturbance involving the girl’s dad, who died from an apparently self-inflicted bullet to the head.

A Joplin SWAT officer accidentally killed a 2-year-old girl as he opened fire on the toddler’s father in Baxter Springs, Kansas, police confirmed Monday. The little girl, Clesslynn Crawford, died after police responded to a call about a domestic disturbance on March 26, between her father, Eric Crawford, and her mother, Taylor D. Shutte. When police got to their camping trailer, Shutte tried to escape through the front door, and Crawford allegedly shot her multiple times in the back. His shots prompted police to shoot at him, and after exchanging multiple rounds of gunfire, one of the bullets struck Clesslynn, killing her. Shutte died at the scene from her wounds, while Crawford died from an apparent self-inflicted bullet to the head. “This is a horrific outcome to what had already started as a very tragic incident,” police Chief Sloan Rowland said in the statement. “We ask that you pray for the victims and everyone involved.”

Editor’s Note: This cheat has been updated to reflect that the Baxter Springs where the shooting occurred is in Kansas, not Missouri.