Friends, family join together for funeral of fallen Det. Sgt. Mason Griffith
By KMOV Staff and Jon Kipper
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HERMANN, Missouri (KMOV) — Mason Griffith arrived to his final resting place on Sunday in Rosebud, Missouri but not before friends, family and people that didn’t even know him could say goodbye.
Griffith, a sergeant with the Hermann Police Department and Police Chief in Rosebud, was shot and killed last Sunday in Hermann. His partner Adam Sullentrup was shot and critically wounded and is still hospitalized. They were attempting to arrest a suspect on outstanding warrants.
It was an emotional funeral and burial. Griffith, by all accounts, a beloved police officer, brought out seemingly the whole community.
That includes Mike Schatzler who knew him for over two decades.
“You’re not going to find anybody to fill his shoes,” said Schatzler. “I mean he was well loved in this town, in this community, this whole area.”
You could tell.
His funeral packed the Owensville High School gymnasium with friends, mostly fellow law enforcement, sharing stories and telling the audience why he was so well-liked.
You could feel the love afterward as well over 100 first responders escorted his body to Rosebud, with people lining the highway to pay their respects.
“It’s the biggest thing to happen to Rosebud in many years,” said Dennis Hall, who attended the procession. “His family and everybody really deserved something like this for Mason.”
People in the community have told News 4 all week about how Griffith would respond to any call, and any hour of the day. At the funeral, one speaker mentioned that Mason even provided backup to police on his wedding day.
Schatzler knows it all to be true because Mason responded to his own late-night call.
“I made a phone call to him at 10:30 at night, I mean I live out of town, and I mean he got right on it,” said Schatzler.
And while Mason is now gone, he clearly won’t be forgotten.
“Dearly going to be missed, he’s got a place in my heart,” said Schatzler.
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