On January 10, 2005, Officer Molly Thomas-Bowden, 26, of the Columbia Police Department was shot three times during a traffic stop at Nifong and Forum Boulevards in Columbia, Missouri. The driver, 23-year-old Columbia College student Richard Evans, opened fire and fled. Later that night Evans was found by another officer, Curtis Brown; during a foot pursuit Evans shot Officer Brown in the arm and then fatally shot himself.

Thomas-Bowden was taken to University Hospital and treated for a month, including being placed in a drug-induced coma to fight an infection, but she died of her wounds on February 10, 2005. She had served with the Columbia Police Department for over three years and was the first officer in that department’s history killed in the line of duty. Her husband was also a Columbia police officer.

Did anyone in the community know Officer Thomas-Bowden or have memories to share about her service?