Missouri — A Missouri woman has been arrested twice in a week for allegedly attacking law enforcement and first responders, including the fatal stabbing of a paramedic who attempted to provide her with medical care and a police officer who nearly had “a chunk of his arm” bitten off by the suspect, according to prosecutors.
Shanetta Bossell, 39, is charged in Clay County Court with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, third-degree assault, and resisting arrest in connection with the paramedic’s death and another bite attack on a different cop who attempted to take her into custody early Sunday morning, according to the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office.
She’s also charged with felony assault and resisting arrest after allegedly biting an off-duty officer who claims he caught her attempting to break into vehicles on April 23.
Prosecutor Zachary Thompson held a press conference hours after Graham Hoffman, a Kansas City Fire Department paramedic firefighter, was allegedly murdered by Bossell, revealing that she had been arrested only five days before for assaulting the off-duty cop.
“When we filed the initial charge and requested a warrant, and it was granted, the judge in that case — as in all criminal cases — reviewed the circumstances, determined the appropriate bond, and in that case the bond was set at $10,000, and the defendant posted that bond,” Thompson explained to local ABC affiliate KMBC, which broadcast Thompson’s press conference.
“A quick review revealed no convictions for these types of offenses,” Thompson said of Bossell’s criminal record.
According to court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KSHB, police officers in Kansas City, Missouri, responded to a call at 12:40 a.m. Sunday for a welfare check on a woman walking on the shoulder of Missouri 152 Highway near North Oak Trafficway. Bossell was discovered at the scene with a cut on one of her fingers, prompting officers to call an ambulance.
According to KSHB, fire department paramedics, including Hoffman, arrived on the scene and determined that Bossell had no intention of harming herself or others. But she allegedly refused to go to the hospital.
According to prosecutors, officers attempted to give the woman a ride home, but she allegedly refused and stated that she would rather take the ambulance, which she eventually did. The officers agreed to accompany the ambulance to the hospital, and the responders left with a squad car in tow.
“After the defendant was placed in the ambulance and driven to the hospital, a police car followed the ambulance,” Thompson said at Sunday’s press conference. “The defendant allegedly began her attack while driving the car. When the ambulance driver pulled over to the side of the road, the police officers intervened.
According to Thompson, Bossell was in the back of the ambulance being treated by Hoffman when the driver heard the victim call out that he “needed help,” according to the Clay County prosecutor. The driver pulled over, got out, and went straight to the back to see what was going on.
“When they opened the back of the ambulance, they could see that a struggle was ensuing,” Thompson says. “At that point, Graham indicated that the defendant had a knife.” It was a blade, a folding knife, about 4 inches long when folded. Prosecutors claim Hoffman was killed in the fight.
Graham said it was unclear whether the weapon came from the ambulance or belonged to Bossell. Investigators allegedly recovered the knife inside the ambulance.
When Bossell attacked the cop last week during the other incident, she noticed that the officer, who “just got off work” and allegedly spotted Bossell “trying to get into” people’s cars, including his own, had a knife on his police vest, and she “tried to grab it several times,” according to her probable cause statement.
“He kept Bossell from grabbing his knife and tried to get on his police radio to get help to his location,” the statement says about the April 23 incident. “As he reached for his radio, Bossell took advantage of the opportunity and bit him on the left forearm.”
Bossell refused to let go, and he avoided yanking his arm free, which could rip a chunk of his arm out. Officers from the Kansas City Missouri Police Department arrived and took Bossell into custody.”
After stabbing Hoffman on Sunday, Bossell allegedly attempted a similar move on the officer who was following the ambulance.
According to court documents, the cop bit down on Bossell’s arm while attempting to prevent him from entering the driver’s seat of the emergency vehicle, KSHB reports. According to the documents, he only managed to get her off after hitting Bossell in the back of the head with the butt of his service weapon.
When asked about Bossell’s mental health history, Thompson responded, “In Missouri, all defendants are presumed competent. Any mental health concerns can be addressed during court proceedings.
Bossell’s bond for the charge resulting in the paramedic’s death was set at $1 million.
