The MSHP recognized 29 employees at its annual awards banquet over the weekend in Cape Girardeau. Among those recognized was Trooper Orrin D. Hawkins of Troop E, who was presented the Patrol’s Lifesaving Award.
On March 4, 2023, Trooper Hawkins responded to a report of an active shooter in a downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri, bar. Trooper Hawkins located two men with apparent gunshot wounds. One man had been shot in the leg, the other man was unresponsive and appeared to have been shot in the abdomen and thoracic region, with an exit wound in his chest. Hawkins located paper towels and applied them to the abdomen wound and used plastic wrap from the kitchen to cover the chest wound. Medical personnel arrived and transported the men to the hospital. Both survived the incident.