Five people are dead after an overnight officer-involved shooting at Kum N Go on East Chestnut Expressway.
According to the Springfield Police Department, around 11:30 p.m. on March 15, Springfield Police officers received multiple calls of three separate shootings.
Another call came in around 11:45 p.m. stating a car crashed into the Kum N Go and an armed suspect began shooting customers and employees.
SPD believes one suspect is responsible for each of these shootings.
Officers Josiah Overton and Christopher Walsh were the first to respond to the scene, where they were immediately met with gunfire from the suspect and were injured.
When other officers arrived, they found the suspect dead from “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
“At the scene, they also located three other deceased individuals and one person with a gunshot wound,” SPD said in a press release. “That person was transported to a local hospital where they are being treated.”
Officer Walsh died from his injuries at the hospital and Officer Overton is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
The three other victims were identified as 57-year-old Troy Rapp of Springfield, an employee of Kum N Go, Shannon Perkins, a 46-year-old male from Springfield who was employed by WCA Waste Corporation, and 22-year-old Matthew Hicks-Morris of Springfield, who was a customer in the store.
The suspect has been identified by Springfield Police as Joaquin S. Roman, a 31-year-old male from Springfield.
In a statement made by Kum N Go on Twitter the morning after the shooting, the company said they are grateful for the courage of first responders.
“There are no words to express the shock and sorrow many of us are feeling,” the tweet said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and their friends and families.”
SPD wrote an obituary for their fellow fallen officer. You can read the accomplishments of Officer Walsh here.
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