KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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One person is dead following a shooting during a private celebration Saturday night. A suspect is in custody after a nearly 16-hour manhunt.
Peculiar police confirmed one person died after a firearm was discharged at a private event, which was at the Lions Club Saturday night.
The suspect fled on foot before being taken into custody at approximately 4:15 p.m. Sunday.
The details as to why a gun was fired are unclear, according to police.
KSHB 41 reached out to the Lions Club for participation in this story and never heard back.
The shooting rattled residents in rural Peculiar, and several viewers reached out to our newsroom, frustrated that no description or image of the suspect had been released while the shooter was still at large.
"It's scary, it scares me because you don't think about that. We come home a while ago, get in our camper, and leave our door open. We had it open a while ago, you just don't think about that in a small town like this," said Sheila Yoder, a Peculiar resident.
The uncertainty stretched through Sunday afternoon, with neighbors left wondering who the suspect was and whether they were safe.
"It makes you feel unsafe. Because there's no information, or very little, and you don't know how long you have to keep watching," said Dani Seward, who also lives in Peculiar.
"It'd be nice to have a description or anything to be able to look out for," said Katie McCoy, whose family lives in Peculiar.
I took those concerns directly to the Peculiar Police Department. Capt. Phillip Grabmiller said investigators believe the suspect originally fled toward Kansas City, a key reason why no identifying information was released to the public during the search.
"Everything that was pointed to us, they resided in Kansas City, and we believe that's where they fled to originally," Grabmiller said.
The manhunt, which spanned nearly 16 hours and involved multiple agencies, came up empty despite the use of dogs, drones and a helicopter. Grabmiller said not knowing how the suspect left the scene made the search especially difficult.
"It is not knowing the aspect of how they may have left the scene. We believe it was on foot," Grabmiller said.
On the delay in public communication, Grabmiller said his department moved as quickly as it could, but wanted it to be clear that there was believed to be no immediate threat to the public.
"In a most timely fashion, we could, and with the expanse of this situation, it was very chaotic, and we tried to get it out as soon as possible and let people know they were safe in the community," Grabmiller said.
Grabmiller said the department is committed to seeing the case through.
"We are deeply saddened by the situation. This is not something we want to have in our community. Whether it's those who live in the community or those who are attending venues within our community, we don't like seeing this stuff," Grabmiller said. "We hope that we can serve justice to anybody."
Police said they will not release the suspect's identity or the victim's name until formal charges are filed.
For residents, the shooting cast a shadow over a community that had just wrapped up a large local celebration the day before, but they remain positive that they will move forward.
"Someone lost their life, you can't bring that back," Seward said. "It makes you stop and think now."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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