A chase that started in a residential area of Bonner Springs led police and highway patrol officers into Missouri and then back to Kansas City, Kan., finally ending with the suspect’s death.
The incident started at 8:53 a.m. Friday, Feb. 13, when Bonner Springs police received a call about a carjacking in the 400 block of South 137th Place in Bonner Springs, said Heather Brooks, spokesperson with the Bonner Springs Police Department.
The officers spoke with the victim, who said a man had arrived in a minivan, pointed a gun at him and demanded the keys to a Moxie pest control work truck, she said. It was a 2008 white Ford Ranger truck, according to the authorities.
The suspect had already left in the stolen work truck, and officers gave out a description of the truck and suspect through dispatchers, she said.
The truck was spotted on K-32 by Edwardsville police officers who attempted to stop the suspect, but the suspect fled, Brooks said. Then the Edwardsville police officer pursued the fleeing vehicle, and the Kansas Highway Patrol joined the pursuit and took over. Edwardsville police left the pursuit as it went to another city, she said.
About 9:09 a.m., according to the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department spokesman, the highway patrol joined the pursuit east on Kaw Drive, where Kansas City, Kan., police officers deployed stop sticks.
At 9:14 a.m., one Kansas City, Kan., police officer assisted the highway patrol in the pursuit eastbound on Park Drive from 34th Street, the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman said.
The Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman said the KCK officers and highway patrol continued the pursuit onto Central Avenue, and then the suspect got on the I-670 highway entrance ramp.
The chase then led into Kansas City, Mo., Brooks said, where officers there joined in the pursuit.
When crossing into Missouri, the Kansas Highway Patrol continued that pursuit, according to the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman.
Kansas City, Mo., police officers became involved with the pursuit in Missouri at about 9:16 a.m., the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman said. The suspect attempted to strike a Kansas City, Mo., police officer, and the pursuit continued back into Kansas City, Kan., from I-35 onto westbound Southwest Boulevard, the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman said.
The suspect then went northbound onto 14th Street and left the roadway at 12th Street and Ruby Avenue, according to the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman.
According to the Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman, the suspect presented a gun, and officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol and Kansas City, Mo., Police Department then engaged the suspect, killing him.
The identity of the suspect has not yet been released.
This incident remains under investigation by the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, which is encouraging anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).