KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Austin Casel stood at attention behind a convenience store along U.S. 71 around 3:45 p.m. Friday as Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies moved in to block traffic on East 55th Street.
The procession for murdered Kansas City, Missouri, firefighter paramedic Graham Hoffman was approaching southbound on U.S 71 en route to Fire Station No. 42, his home station, after his funeral.
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“I just wanted to honor the fallen firefighter today who died from a senseless crime,” Casel said. “... It's a honorable thing, but it shakes you. It's so well done by the public services, but nobody wants this to occur.”
Casel was part of a small contingent of people — some who came upon the procession accidentally and others who came for the vantage point — paying their respects to Hoffman as a miles-long stream of pumper trucks, ambulances, other fire-department vehicles, and law-enforcement vehicles streamed past.
“There's a lot of counties, a lot of different cities that are represented here, and your heart starts beating because you realize the gravity of the situation,” Casel said. “It really starts to hit you. ... This is a man that was dedicating his life, literally put his life on the line, to help others. He was ultimately trying to help that woman who killed him.”
That part also angers Casel, who said his brother-in-law is an Overland Park firefighter and other family members served as police officers.
Hoffman, 29, was stabbed in the heart early Sunday morning in the back of his ambulance. He died several hours later at North Kansas City Hospital.
Shonetta Bossell, the woman charged with first-degree murder in Hoffman’s death, had been arrested four days earlier after allegedly biting a police officer. She was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest after that Wednesday, April 23, incident.
Bossell, 39, was given a $10,000 cash or surety bond in the case, which a bail bond company posted on Friday, April 25.
She was bleeding from a cut on her hand when officers — who were dispatched around 12:40 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, to check Bossell’s welfare after someone called police — made contact in the area of Missouri 152 and North Oak Trafficway.
After initially refusing treatment, Bossell agreed to go to the hospital before she allegedly stabbed Hoffman en route.
“It's so sad,” Casel said. “This woman had previously assaulted and bit a police officer, then she's apprehended and she's given a $10,000 bond — so, she's able to pay a bail bondsman 10 to 15% of that, which is like $1,500 bucks. She goes back on the street. She then kills a firefighter. I mean, if you assault a law enforcement officer, you should have a much higher bond than $10,000. Now, she's being held on a $1 million dollar bond, but it's just so sad it happened this way. Judge Louis Angles should be ashamed of himself.”
Angles is the Clay County Circuit Court judge who set the bond for Bossell in the April 23 assault case.
“I would ask that the judicial system do a better job of actually providing justice, because this would not have happened if that woman had stayed in jail for longer, if she had had a higher bond,” Casel said. “Ultimately, she did something violent. She then was held on what seems like a minor bond, was released and created more violence.”
He continued, “The world's never gonna be perfect, but if we can, hold people accountable and we can prevent things like this from happening.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
