Shanetta Bossell stabs Kansas City paramedic, Graham Hoffman to death trying to save her. Should a female patient with spate of recent violent crimes have been out?
A preventable tragedy…? A woman experiencing an episode along a Missouri highway is accused of stabbing and killing a Kansas City paramedic firefighter who tried to help her when she was placed in an ambulance early Sunday in Northland and was being transported to hospital.
Shanetta Bossell, 39, appearing at Clay County Court, on Sunday was charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, third-degree assault and resisting arrest.
Bossell is accused of stabbing and killing Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department paramedic firefighter Graham Hoffman. A judge set her bond at $1 million.
A court document stated Kansas City, Missouri, police officers being sent at 12:40 a.m on Sunday to Missouri 152 Highway and North Oak Trafficway to check on the welfare of a person in the area.
The officers found Bossell walking on the shoulder of Missouri 152 Highway just east of North Oak Traffic way the court document cited by KSHB stated.
Police ordered an ambulance be sent to their scene because Bossell had a laceration to a finger that was bleeding heavily.
Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department paramedics talked to Bossell and determined she wasn’t trying to hurt herself and did not want to go to a hospital, the court documents state.
Police officers offered to give her a ride home, but she turned down those offers.
She changed her mind and agreed to go a hospital in the ambulance. Officers told the fire department paramedics they would follow the ambulance to the hospital, according to the court documents.
At 1:25 a.m., the driver of the ambulance turned on the unit’s emergency lights, jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran to the back doors of the ambulance.
According to the court documents, the driver yelled to the police officer following behind, ‘She has a knife.’
The officer said he saw a struggle between Bossell and Hoffman and immediately called for more officers to come to the scene.
The officer said Bossell jumped into the ambulance’s driver seat, trying unsuccessfully to put it in drive.
A struggle ensued between the officer and Bossell, as he tried to grab her legs. The court records say she slipped from his grip and ran to the back of the ambulance, where the officer cut her off. The officer said Bossell got back in the driver’s seat again.
The officer pulled his weapon and grabbed Bossell with his other hand, causing both of them to fall. The officer said Bossell bit down on his arm hard and he hit her in the back of the head with his weapon so she would stop biting.
Meanwhile, the ambulance driver was trying to keep Hoffman alert but he was becoming non-responsive.
More officers got to the scene and detained Bossell.
A second ambulance arrived to take Hoffman, who suffered a life-threatening stab wound to his chest, to a hospital, the court documents state.
The knife believed to be used in Hoffman’s murder was found in the walkway between the cab and the rear of the ambulance. Hoffman leading up to his death had been with the KCFD for three years.
But there’s more.
A few days prior to Sunday’s fatal stabbing, Kansas City, Missouri, police officers arrested Bossell on Wednesday, April 23 after she bit a police officer several times as he tried to arrest her.
She was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest in that incident. She posted bond and was released. Within a day of her release Bossell who seemingly had been on a trajectory of violence (see reports below) would be charged with the murder of a public services employee.
A few weeks before the April 23 incident, Bossell was issued a citation on March 31 for rear-ending another car and leaving the scene aka hit and run.
A criminal history check done at the time of the arrest found Bossell had no felonies on record.
And then there were these comments on the web below that caught this author’s attention. See what you think?
‘Should Shanetta Bossell should have NEVER been released on bond. This was an entirely preventable death and a senseless crime.’
‘You mean earlier this WEEK, as in just 4 days ago, she bit an officer multiple times. Why on earth was she not given a full psych evaluation before being released?’
‘Sadly lot of folks that have mental health issues. Are not being kept safe and given treatment.’
‘I thought there’s usually more than one EMT in the back of an ambulance tending to a patient anyway?’
