OUTRAGE ERUPTS: Missouri firefighter paramedic fatally stabbed by patient inside ambulance, who had just been released from jail

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From CBS News: A Kansas City firefighter paramedic was fatally stabbed by a patient who he was taking via ambulance to a local hospital, officials said.

Graham Hoffman, 29, was transporting a patient following a routine medical call from police on Sunday when he was stabbed in the chest, piercing his heart. Despite lifesaving efforts, Hoffman died from his injuries at North Kansas City Hospital.

Shanetta Bossell, 38, of Kansas City, was charged with murder and armed criminal action, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, emergency crews received reports of a woman, later identified as Bossell, walking on the shoulder of a state highway around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday. Callers had been concerned for her safety.

After Bossell was located, police officers requested EMT for further treatment and she was taken to Saint Luke’s Hospital. On the way — around 1:25 a.m. — Bossell allegedly stabbed Hoffman with a knife.

Hoffman had served with the Kansas City Fire Department since 2022.

Bossell is now being held on a $1 million bond. However, this isn’t her first attack. Local news outlet KCTV5.com reported that Bossell allegedly bit a police officer in Platte City, Missouri on the ear during an unrelated arrest last Wednesday, April 23.  In that case, she was reportedly trying to break into a car.

A judge released her after she posted a $10,000 bond sometime before Saturday. Then early Sunday morning, she stabbed and killed a young firefighter.

A report by KSHB.com shared a more detailed account of what led up to the murder in the back of the ambulance.

Police officers first responded to calls of a woman (Bossell) walking on the shoulder of the highway at 12:40 a.m. They called an ambulance because she had a cut on her finger that was bleeding heavily. Fire Department paramedics talked to Bossell, but she said she didn’t want to go to the hospital.

The police officers offered to give her a ride home, but she declined, then changed her mind and agreed to go to a hospital in the ambulance. The police said they would follow the ambulance. However, at 1:25 a.m. the driver yelled to police behind him, “She has a knife!”

The driver jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran to the back of the ambulance to try to help Hoffman, who Bossell had stabbed. While he was trying to save Hoffman, Bossell jumped into the ambulance’s driver seat, and tried to put it into drive. The police officer struggled with Bossell, and she fled to the back of the ambulance, then back again to the driver’s seat.

During the struggle with the police officer, Bossell also bit down hard on his hand, and he had to hit her head with his weapon to stop her from biting.  Additional officers arrived and detained Bossell.

A second ambulance arrived and took Hoffman to the hospital, but he could not be saved.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote, “We will remember forever the service and sacrifice of Graham Hoffman of the Kansas City Fire Department. Our condolences to his family, all at KCFD, and all in our community.”

“Please pray for or extend your thoughts this evening to the family of Graham Hoffman and the Kansas City firefighter-paramedics, including his partner in the ambulance and those first to the scene, who fought so hard to contain the situation and save his life,” Mayor Lucas added.

Mayor Lucas, a Democrat and Kansas City’s third Black mayor, then released a statement after murder charges were filed against Bossell.

“Like may, I share concern that the defendant had within the past week been arrested and charged by prosecutors with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, only to, based upon the allegations, return as a serious threat to the public and first responders only days later. I believe in our justice system and will await further information about all that led to this heartbreaking incident and all that could have been done to avoid it.”

KCFD Station 10 shared their grief on Facebook Sunday afternoon.  The department wrote:

Change. Not politics. Change. Today, KCFD mourns the loss of a fellow brother. The city has lost a servant. A girlfriend has lost her best friend. Parents have lost a son.

But why? It wasn’t cancer, or a fire, or a freak accident. It was violence. Preventable violence. It is the culmination of a culture that has long festered in the healthcare community. One of disrespect, disregard, and hatred towards those who have done nothing more than take an oath to help neighbors and strangers. It’s a culture that has resulted in countless injuries, and now, another death.

In the coming days and weeks, many will be angry. Many will point figures, take political sides, and look to place blame on the easiest political targets possible. But we will tell you now, it won’t be productive.

The way to honor a memory for a loss like this is to ensure it never happens again. Violence can NEVER be tolerated. But if we can’t protect the helpers, then the pillars that hold up a community will crumble, and the community will follow.
Tonight, hug your loved ones. If you are religious, pray for his coworkers, friends and family. KCFD and all of the metro area will be hurting for a long time.

Graham Hoffman, you are loved. You will never be forgotten. And your life and contributions will be celebrated.

May the hammer of justice be swift and heavy.

On Monday, the KCFD Station 10 added:

Days like today are hard. It’s hard because today, is no different than the day before or day before that because the expectation from the citizens is still the same.

Even after a senseless, terrible, and preventable loss, the phones still ring in dispatch, the bells still go off in the stations, the doors still go up and rigs still go out. They have to. They must.

Just like they did after Kyle Brinker, JP, Ray Wynn, Scott Davidson, Bobby Rocha, Billy Birmingham, Jerry Bayton, Roger Rhoads, Tom Byrne, Danny Rapp, John Mesh, Larry Leggio, and the other one hundred and seven line of duty deaths in the history of KCFD.

To the citizen’s house who catches fire, to the mother who’s pregnancy has developed complications, to the out of state driver just passing through who’s been in a wreck, the deserve and will receive the same great care and service that they would have the day before.

Except today it’s all done with heavier hearts.

Keep Station 42, and all of KCFD and Graham’s family in your thoughts and prayers today and in the coming days as they process a great man ending his tour of duty well before his time.

READ MORE from CBS News.

Here’s the judge who turned Bossell loose on Saturday.

The Kansas State Troopers Association also voiced their outrage, writing on Facebook:

Many have now heard how Graham Hoffman, 29, was working overtime as a new Firefighter Paramedic for KCFD when he was stabbed in the heart and killed early Sunday by someone he was helping. What you may not know is this:

The piece of human garbage responsible for Graham’s death, Shanetta Bossell, was released on a ridiculously low bond after viciously attacking a police officer who caught her trying to break into a car last Wednesday. Our communities do not deserve this. Demand accountability.

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