ST. LOUIS, Mo. – A man accused of shooting and killing a St. Louis police officer in 2020 is preparing to face a jury next week.
Thomas Kinworthy, 47, rocked back and forth intensely during a hearing on Thursday, as he allegedly made disturbing comments to a police officer immediately after the shooting.
A St. Louis police officer said Kinworthy was in his custody when he asked the officer, “Did I make the news?” When the officer answered yes, Kinworthy then replied, “Can I see that bit?”
Officer Tamarris Bohannon was shot and killed in the line of duty on Hartford Street near Tower Grove Park in August 2020. He served as a St. Louis police officer for less than four years. Bohannon left behind a wife and three children. He was 29.
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Another officer, Arlando Bailey, was also shot that day in the leg but survived.
“I think about if I could have done things differently,” Bailey said in an interview with FOX 2 in 2021. “(I’m) just trying to replay the situation.”
A standoff with Kinsworthy lasted nearly 12 hours after Bohannon’s death. SWAT eventually arrested the man, who had an active warrant for his arrest in Florida and a long criminal record.
The alleged disturbing statements Kinsworthy made that night were unveiled in court after the defense argued for them to be suppressed, saying he hadn’t been read his rights. The judge ruled that the defendant was not being interrogated at the time of the statements; therefore, the motion to suppress was denied.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.