Three charged after shots fired at Seneca Police

Three men have been charged after a Seneca Police Officer was shot at during a pursuit over the weekend. Read the rest of the press release below:

Three men have been charged in the Circuit Court of Newton County, Missouri, with assault in the 1st degree with a special victim, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon after a pursuit in Seneca, Missouri left a patrol vehicle riddled with bullet holes.

Bradley Ray Holmes, Jr., 24, of Miami, Oklahoma; Kenneth Cecil Nelmus, 59, of Picher, Oklahoma; and Tony Lucian Helms, 53, of Baxter Springs, Kansas, were all charged on three count complaints and are currently being held without bond on warrants issued by Judge Christine Rhoades of the 40th Judicial Circuit.

According to an affidavit in support of the complaint, a Seneca Police Officer was attempting to make a traffic stop of the vehicle carrying the defendants when he observed a back window open and a flash come from the vehicle, followed by bullets hitting the officer’s patrol vehicle. The vehicle proceeded through a fence and into a field where the occupants were able to evade pursuit. The vehicle was later located, in which officers found numerous weapons, spent bullet casings, and bullet holes in the tailgate of the vehicle. All three suspects were later apprehended.

The charges contained in the complaints against the defendants are simply accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting these charged must be presented to a jury of the defendants’ peers, and all criminal defendants are innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. This case was investigated by members of the Seneca Police Department and the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, the case will be prosecuted by the Newton County Prosecutor’s Office.