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Authorities are investigating the death of a Warrensburg bar owner.

KCTV reported that 25-year-old Blaine Whitworth was killed Saturday night in an apparent shooting.

Warrensburg Police Chief Bruce Howey says he expects the Missouri Rural Major Case Squad will be activated Tuesday. In the meantime, his department is working the case as a homicide. The last homicide in Warrensburg was in 2009.

Whitworth owned two bars in downtown Warrensburg. Friends said he went to work as a safety manager for an off-shore drilling company after graduating from the University of Central Missouri. But then he was drawn back to Warrensburg.

Friend Alex Lohman says Whitworth wanted to "pursue the dream of making this town better."