Retired 3 days, Pleasant Hill police chief is called back for grocery store shooting
On Monday afternoon, three days after he retired as chief of the Pleasant Hill Police Department, Tommy Wright got a notification about a shooting outside a grocery store in the town.
The way the notification system works, Wright said, is whoever is on duty alerts the on-call commander about an incident. Then, if the call rises to a certain level, it goes to the police chief as well.
Because of the severity of the shooting, the notification went out to Wright, who had led the police department since July 2022.
And that’s ultimately how Wright came out of retirement for a couple of days to help his small town and police department handle its first homicide in about 20 years.
He was the one to talk with the media Monday evening and who tried to calm his community after one person was fatally shot, and two others were injured, outside Price Chopper at 2102 N. Missouri 7. On Tuesday morning, Wright was the one who publicly identified the victim as Amy Coon, 45, of nearby Strasburg, who was a shopper at the store.
Wright also shared the news that the 16-year-old employee who was shot was in stable condition.
“This is a small town, and this community’s been fantastic to me,” Wright told The Star. “So I want to be able to pitch in and help when I can.”
‘That familiar face’
Officers were alerted before 4:30 p.m. Monday about the shooting in the parking lot of the Price Chopper.
Soon after he got the alert, Wright called City Administrator Kristen Dorman to let her know what had happened. Speaking with The Star Tuesday afternoon, Dorman said she knew the department and community could use his help.
“I asked him if he could pretend that he wasn’t retired for a day or two,” Dorman said. “And, you know, help us in whatever way the department needed.”
The captain, she said, “is doing an amazing job handling all the operational pieces and being on scene.”
“We just kind of asked Tommy if he would help us with the communication pieces of it, and kind of help be the face, as he is well respected and well known by the community,” she said. “We thought that might be helpful to kind of have that familiar face.
“He’s beloved by the community and by the department, and I think that, you know, having him come in and just provide some guidance, and just that leadership that we’re all used to is really, really helpful and really appreciated.”
Residents come together
The retirement ceremony for Wright, who earlier this month was honored by the Missouri Police Chiefs Association as Police Chief of the Year, was scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Just four hours before, he led another news conference updating the community on the investigation, which was still ongoing. Police on Tuesday had not yet identified a motive in the shooting.
The suspected shooter — Allen T. Prince, 27, of Pleasant Hill — was still hospitalized with what authorities said appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Prosecutors have charged Prince with murder and several other felonies related to the shooting.
The fatal shooting is “definitely a shock to our community,” Dorman said.
“But I think this is one of those instances that shows how unique Pleasant Hill is,” she said. “And how tight-knit of a community it is.”
Across her social media feeds, Dorman said she read how residents are asking how they can help Coon’s family and the families affected by the shooting.
“That just shows how strong this community is,” she said. “So, these are the moments where Pleasant Hill really shines in showing up for each other.”
Like the police chief who retired and then jumped back in to help.
“It really is a testament to how people feel in this community,” she said, “that you know he cares deeply, just like all the residents do, and that showed by him stepping in.”
The Star’s Nathan Pilling and Eric Adler contributed to this report.
