Suspect killed, 3 officers wounded in Missouri firefight
A man evading arrest and wielding a rifle shot and wounded three police officers during a lengthy search and firefight in Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday afternoon. The episode ended when the police killed the suspected-gunman.
Chief Rick Smith of the Kansas City police said that when officers went to confront the man outside a motel on the city’s East Side just after noon, he shot and wounded two officers and fled in a vehicle with another person, who was arrested when officers found the vehicle. Photos posted by local reporters appeared to show a bullet hole in the window of an unmarked police vehicle at the scene.
The police hunted for the suspect for roughly an hour, blocking highway exits and deploying helicopters overhead, before tracking him to a house near the motel less than 2 miles from Kauffman Stadium, where the Kansas City Royals baseball team plays.
“All of a sudden there was more shots fired, and another detective was hit,” Chief Smith said. In the minutes that followed, he said, there were several exchanges of gunfire between the man and the police.
Finally, the suspect emerged from the home and was killed in an exchange of gunfire, Chief Smith told reporters.
Chief Smith said that all three injured officers were expected to survive. The suspected gunman had been under surveillance in connection with the recent killing of a college student from India, he said.
“We’ve been looking for him all week,” Chief Smith said. “This is the first time we laid eyes on him.”
He did not identify the suspected gunman or give other details about him.
The shootings drew a huge law enforcement response, with officers cordoning off a large area and encouraging residents to seek shelter indoors.
“Basically, every asset that we have available to bring this situation safely to an end” was at the scene, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a department spokesman, said shortly before the standoff concluded. “It’s a danger to us. It’s also a danger to the public.”
Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted, along with state and local police departments.
The shooting of the Missouri officers came a month after two sheriff’s deputies were fatally wounded in a shooting across the state line in Kansas City, Kan. In that case, an inmate is believed to have seized a deputy’s gun outside a courthouse and opened fire.