ST. LOUIS – A man found guilty of murdering a St. Louis police officer has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A St. Louis Circuit Court judge sentenced Thomas Kinworthy Thursday afternoon in the 2020 death of police officer Tamarris Bohannon.
The life sentence was imposed for premeditated murder. Prosecutors said Kinworthy also received the maximum sentence on eight other charges, all of which will count toward the life sentence.
In August 2020, Bohannan and his partner Arlando Bailey responded to a call about a shooting in the Tower Grove South neighborhood.
A couple who called 911 said that while they were on the phone with a dispatcher, Kinworthy entered their home, threatened them at gunpoint and told them to hang up. The couple fled through a back door and spoke with Officer Bohannon.
Investigators say as Bohannon walked around the house, Kinworthy shot him in the head with a 9mm handgun from a second-story window of the couple’s home. Bailey was shot in the leg and survived.
Police arrested Kinworthy after a nearly 12-hour standoff. Bohannon died the next day at the age of 29. Bohannon was a police officer for more than three and a half years. He left behind a wife and three children.
Many of Bohannon’s family members, including his parents and wife, read their pleas during the sentencing on Thursday, expressing their sadness and anger.
“Years of meticulous work by our prosecution team have resulted in long-delayed justice for the
families of Officers Bohannon and Bailey,” said District Attorney Gabe Gore. “The verdict of
Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and additional maximum sentences on all counts are
appropriate punishment for these heinous crimes committed by such a violent, unrepentant
Individually.”
Kinworthy also addressed the court. He neither accepted responsibility for his crimes nor offered an apology to the Bohannon family and interrupted several remarks by prosecutors.
A jury convicted Kinworthy of Bohannon’s murder on May 2. He was also found guilty of wounding Bailey and another civilian.
