CLINTON, Mo. (AP) — Police records say a man who is charged with supplying the weapon used to kill a western Missouri police officer admitted that he bought the rifle for the suspect and threw it in a creek after the shooting.

William Noble, of Clinton, was charged Thursday with felony tampering with evidence. He is accused of buying the rifle that investigators believe Ian McCarthy used in the killing of Clinton police Officer Gary Michael on Sunday.

A probable cause statement says Noble told a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer that he bought the rifle at McCarthy’s request. He says he “panicked” Monday when he saw the rifle leaning against a doorway at his home.

According to the statement, Noble threw the weapon into a creek, from where it was retrieved Thursday.

—————–

CLINTON, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have arrested another man in connection with last weekend’s shooting death of a western Missouri police officer.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe says William Noble of Clinton was taken into custody Thursday and charged with felony tampering with evidence. Lowe says that during the course of an interview, investigators determined that the 35-year-old Noble had disposed of the rifle believed to have been used in the officer’s killing.

Lowe earlier said that a gun had been found in a creek about two miles north of Clinton.

Thirty-nine-year-old Ian McCarthy is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Clinton police Officer Gary Michael.

Lowe says the relationship between McCarthy and Noble is unclear.