As mayor, slain firefighter’s father sought unity
Flags are at half-staff in Maplewood today, where this morning a rookie firefighter was felled by a bullet while responding to an early-morning vehicle fire near Big Bend Boulevard.
The firefighter was Ryan Hummert, 22, whose father was mayor of Maplewood for a decade.
When Andrew Hummert was elected mayor of Maplewood in 1983, it was a sleepy bedroom community with a reputation for raucous council meetings.
During his tenure, Hummert sought to bring political harmony to the town, as well as renewed economic development.
Today, Maplewood is better known for its trendy Main Street than City Hall infighting.
But any calm there was shattered today, where a gunman — with, so far, no identity and no reason — shot Hummert’s son and two police officers.
Young Hummert had just begun to follow his dad’s path into public service — he had been with the city since last summer, after completing paramedic school.
He graduated from the St. Louis County fire academy earlier this year.
Andy, my wife and I are praying for you and your family. Gary and Jane Hummert.