‘It was always about giving’: Slain Overland Park officer remembered for outreach
Mike Mosher was on his way to being promoted to sergeant, Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez said.
It would have been an opportunity for the officer to impact even more people, Donchez said, adding that Mosher had scored well in recent tests and interviews leading up to the promotion.
Mosher was headed to work in his personal vehicle Sunday when he called in a hit-and-run suspect. That call would escalate into a fatal shootout. Mosher exchanged gunfire with Overland Park resident Phillip Michael Carney, who died at the scene. Mosher, 37, died that night at a hospital.
Donchez and those close to Mosher recalled the life of a man who was rational and kind, with a healthy dose of good humor.
He was an educator and public servant, whether in his police car, a local school or the shooting range, friends and colleagues said.
“It was always about giving; it was always about serving, and I can’t ask more from an officer than that,” Donchez said.
Donchez estimated between 50 and 75 officers gathered at the hospital Sunday evening with Mosher’s parents, wife and daughter.
“Their faith is strong and even in those moments soon after he passed, we were celebrating his life and his after life,” Donchez said of the family Mosher adored. “They strengthened me with their strength.”
More than a decade in uniform
Mosher joined the Overland Park Police Department on Sept. 26, 2005 and was a community officer for nearly 15 years.
He was a member of the department’s crisis negotiation team and was the most tenured field training officer assigned to the patrol division, according to the department.
“He imparted his skill and knowledge on a lot of young officers and helped mold their careers and make sure that they were safe,” Donchez said.
Mosher also spent the past several years serving as president of the Overland Park Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21. He was recently quoted by a local news station as advocating for his colleagues working the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
In July 2018, Mosher and his partner fatally shot 43-year-old Charles Webb, who had fired shots at officers, according to police. Mosher was given the Metropolitan Chiefs and Sheriffs Association’s Officer of the Year Award for stopping the active shooter.
School resource officer
Diana Tate, principal at Aubry Bend Middle School in Overland Park, said Mosher wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable with her students.
He worked as a part-time resource officer for the middle school during the 2017-18 school year, keeping up with the kids and teaching them about safety.
During a cybersecurity presentation, she recalled Mosher showing the class a goofy video he made with his wife. She doesn’t remember the exact details, but believed it had to do with a dare to put on his wife’s clothes.
“From the first day that he walked into the building, we knew it was going to be a fun ride because he was extremely professional but had an amazing sense of humor,” Tate said.
Mosher often spent the passing periods chatting with students in the hallways, and the lunch hour in the cafeteria handing out trinkets from the police department.
And he was always up for jokes involving police officers and donuts, Tate said with a laugh. On treat days, they’d take playful photos of him stealing the sugary desserts.
“He just lit up the office,” she said. “He was a lot of fun and really made people feel comfortable and welcome with him.”
The goal of bringing a school resource officer into the building is to build connections between police and youth, she said. Mosher did just that.
“There just isn’t any higher honor than to have the admiration of our kids and of our community and he certainly had it,” Tate said. “He was just a really, really wonderful man.”
Operation Rudolph
When Fred Jones Sr., president of the Johnson County NAACP, learned Mosher had died, he pulled up a photo from December. There, frozen in time, was Mosher, standing with a group from Operation Rudolph. Their arms were wrapped around one another’s shoulders as they smiled inside a Target store.
Mosher helped lead Operation Rudolph, a collaboration between the Johnson County NAACP and the Overland Park Police Department that gave underprivileged children the chance to shop for Christmas gifts each year.
“I’m just crushed, because he was a very professional gentleman and a joy to work with and a joy to be around,” said Jones, adding that Mosher was involved in any community efforts that presented themselves between the NAACP and police department.
Mosher was always positive and upbeat, he said.
Jones extended prayers to Mosher’s family. “I wish there was something we could do to help ease their pain in this transition,” he said.
A member of Kansas’ gun community
Dillen Easley first met Mosher through his wife, Corinne Mosher, through the competitive shooting community.
Not long after, Mike Mosher had the idea of starting a shooting competition fundraiser for Special Olympics Kansas with Easley’s help.
Shoot for the Gold was born, bringing competitors from as far as Texas and California. The event ran from 2015 to 2018, raising about $63,000 for the Special Olympics. The event ended in 2019, when the shooting venue they used was no longer available.
When the program was in action, Mosher ran the behind the scenes work, Easley said, an example of Mosher’s selflessness.
“He wanted to do it, and then quietly did it again,” he said.
While Mosher’s wife is well-known in the nationwide competitive shooting community, Mosher was more involved on the education end, teaching concealed carry classes and women’s safety courses alongside his wife, Easley said.
Lyle Caudill, who runs the Kansas Gun Community Facebook page, described Mosher’s death not only a loss for Overland Park, but for the gun community at large.
“He was always concerned about safety, of course, but he was always wanting people to learn,” Caudill said, adding that Mosher was also a Federal Firearms Licensee, keeping people on “the right side of the law.”
Mosher was always looking to do what was righteous, Caudill said of his “jovial and quick-witted” friend.
He’ll miss Mosher’s smile the most.
Memorial
Since 2012, the Moshers have been members of Centerfire Shooting Sports in Olathe, where Corinne Mosher is now the director of education and her husband was an instructor.
Centerfire has set up a memorial fund for the family Mosher leaves behind.
No funeral arrangements had been set yet, Donchez said Monday morning. His officers have the option of taking the day off to grieve if needed. Their partners at Wyandotte and Johnson counties will be filling in for any absences.
“He was truly a hero for the community of Overland Park and Kansas City metro,” Caudill said. “He died doing what he was born to do.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 5:58 PM.
