On the evening of October 6, 2025, a tactical team serving an arrest warrant at a County Road 408 residence near Bertrand, Missouri, came under gunfire. Henry Franklin, 41, an officer with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety who had responded for mutual aid, was struck during the exchange and later succumbed to his injuries. The warrant had been issued after a local farmer, 62-year-old Gerard Essner, was found shot while harvesting soybeans earlier that day.

The shooter, identified as 36-year-old Nathan B. Peters, barricaded himself inside the home and a prolonged standoff followed. Specialized units, including a Missouri State Highway Patrol SWAT team, were called in. When officers breached the residence shortly after midnight, Peters was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No arrests were made in connection with the initial homicide because the suspect died at the scene.

Officer Franklin had served with the Sikeston department since 2013, was a veteran of the Army National Guard, worked as a K-9 handler, and left a wife and four children. The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control handled the subsequent investigation. If anyone has information about the events on October 6 in the Bertrand area, please share what is known.