A Kansas City, Kan., police detective has died from injuries in a shooting near the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
A police spokesman said the suspect in the shooting shot the detective several times, then fled in the detective’s vehicle.
The detective had been assisting officers who had responded to a call about a suspicious person near the casino around 12:17 p.m. May 9, the spokesman said.
Officers made contact with the suspect, who fled the scene on foot, and several officers gave chase, the spokesman said.
When the detective, who was in the area, went to assist the officers, the suspect opened fire, the spokesman said. Then the suspect fled in the detective’s vehicle.
The detective was taken to the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., where he later died of his injuries. His identity has not yet been released.
Officer P.J. McCallop today, at the shooting scene, identified the suspect as Curtis Ayers, 28. The suspect was at large at the time Officer McCallop identified him, and a manhunt was underway in Leavenworth County that then went to Kansas City, Mo.
After fleeing in the detective’s vehicle, the suspect carjacked another vehicle near 118th and State, and that vehicle had two children in it, Officer McCallop said. The suspect then traveled to Basehor, dropped off the kids in a residential neighborhood, abandoned the vehicle and carjacked another vehicle there, the spokesman said. That vehicle was a silver Ford Focus.
The suspect then went to south Kansas City, Mo., area, where he was shot by a police officer after trying to carjack another car.
Kansas City, Mo., Public Information Officer Darrin Snapp said that around 2:30 p.m., a Kansas City, Mo., police officer spotted a vehicle resembling the suspect vehicle on Highway 71 on 85th Street southbound on the Missouri side. The Kansas City, Mo., officer started pursuing the suspect vehicle, he said.
The suspect’s vehicle wrecked at Bannister Road and Highway 71, he said.
The suspect jumped out and attempted to carjack a woman driving a car on 71 Highway, Officer Snapp said. The suspect shot the woman in the shoulder, he said.
The officer saw the shooting, and as soon as it happened, he shot the suspect, Officer Snapp said. The suspect was taken to the hospital, where he is in serious condition and expected to live, he said.
The woman who was shot in her vehicle was in serious condition, he said, and is expected to live.
Officer Snapp said the suspect matched the description and photo, and the vehicle matched the description given out by the Kansas City, Kan., police. He said he would expect the suspect to be charged Tuesday in Jackson County, Mo., with the shooting of the motorist, and probably after that, with the shooting of the detective in Wyandotte County.
Officer Snapp expressed sadness at the death of the Kansas City, Kan., detective.
“Please keep the detective’s family in your thoughts and prayers,” the Kansas City, Kan., public information officer said.
A man with the same name as the suspect and the same age was listed on the Kansas Department of Corrections website as post-incarceration status. He had several past charges out of Leavenworth County, having been released in January 2016. His charges included fleeing or attempting to flee a law enforcement officer, and abandonment of a child less than 16 years old.
He had been an inmate at Lansing Correctional Facility and El Dorado Correctional Facility.
