Police justified in shooting, killing Ozark woman, Christian County prosecutor says

Few details were available in the aftermath of a police-involved firefight in downtown Ozark that left a woman dead in late November, but now a letter from the Christian County prosecutor has shed light on the shooting.

It was when the woman opened a window and pointed a black handgun outside that a Nixa police officer fired his weapon and killed her, the letter said.

Somer Speer, 37, was found dead inside 417 Bail Bonds with a loaded Glock pistol lying next to her, the letter said.

Prosecutor Amy Fite wrote a response to a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation of the firefight and said that Cpl. Ben Kaufman was justified in fatally shooting Speer.

Reached by the News-Leader on Thursday, Speer's father said the shooting could have been avoided.

"This should have never happened. This was a senseless death," Rich Rikard said.

The shooting that took place on Nov. 25 stemmed from events earlier that year.

In May, Speer was charged in Greene County with second-degree vehicular assault in an intoxicated state and tampering with a motor vehicle, a Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman said.

Shortly after Speer was jailed, court documents show that she was bailed out by Wayne Wesley Mullen Jr. of Michael Nivens Bail Bonds.

Mullen and Speer had been in an intimate relationship for about a year, Rikard said, and were seeing each other up to about two months before Speer's death.

On Aug. 25, Mullen successfully petitioned for a full order of protection against Speer in Greene County, according to court documents.

Two months later, employees of a bail bonds company came to revoke Speer's bond and Speer opened fire, officials said at the time.

"She wasn't a flight risk," Rikard said. "I'm upset that they went there."

Rikard said he spoke with Mullen the day of the shooting. Mullen wanted to borrow Rikard's Taser and Rikard refused, he said.

All three individuals — Rikard, Mullen and Speer — have worked at the Michael Nivens Bail Bonds company at some point. Rikard said he and Mullen were working there at the time of the shooting.

Speer had helped Mullen pass his tests and become a bail bonds agent, Rikard said.

Rikard said it was Mullen who would later prompt the revocation of Speer's bond in November.

In describing the scene of the firefight, the prosecutor's letter says Speer had made threats to kill the agents who came to revoke her bond, shot at them, and shot at police officers who responded to the scene.

Another police officer, Cpl. David Bernier of the Christian County Sheriff's Department, was also justified in shooting at Speer, the letter said. Bernier shot at Speer after seeing a shot fired toward the people outside, the letter said.

"Loss of life cannot be reversed and our laws recognize this with how serious the punishment can be when loss of life occurs at the hands of another," Fite wrote. "Still our laws also provide that based on some circumstances, the use of deadly force, even when such force results in the death of another, is considered justified under the law."