Deputy Sheriff Charles J. Kinser

Charles J. Kinser

Deputy Sheriff Charles Kinser was shot and killed approximately two miles west of Marshfield, Missouri, while participating in a search for two fugitives who had escaped from police custody in Memphis, Tennessee.

The men had been involved in shootouts with police in two different cities before before being sighted in the Marshfield area. Deputies from Greene County and Webster County converged on the area in an attempt to locate them.

Deputy Kinser and a second deputy encountered the men in a wooded area a short distance off of the Springfield-Marshfield Road. As the deputies entered a clearing they were suddenly ambushed by the men who were hiding in nearby bushes. Deputy Kinser was killed instantly and his partner was wounded. Despite the wound, his partner was able to return fire and wounded one of the subjects.

One of the suspects was shot and killed three days later in another shootout with a posse. The second subject was apprehended, but the charges were later dismissed on the grounds that the deputies had pursued the subjects outside of their jurisdiction in Webster County.

Deputy Kinser was predeceased by his wife. He was survived by two sons.