KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Latest on the shooting of a police officer in Kansas City, Kansas (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the agency has about 20 agents on the scene of a fatal shooting of a Kansas City, Kansas, officer.
Spokesman John Ham said the ATF will provide help with ballistics if required, but are currently assisting with the investigation.
Ham also called it a “large crime scene.”
Authorities say 46-year-old Capt. Robert Melton was shot multiple times in his vehicle on Tuesday afternoon when he pulled up to a person who matched the description of a suspect. A suspect in Melton’s shooting was taken into custody.
Asked whether there’s evidence that the officers on the scene were ambushed, Ham said he didn’t know, adding, “The investigation needs to play out before that can be determined.”
3:45 p.m.
Police in Kansas City, Kansas, say a ranking officer was in his patrol car when he was shot multiple times by suspects in an earlier shooting.
Spokesman Tom Tomasic says officers responded around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to a report of an armed disturbance involving shots fired at a person from people in a car.
He says three or four suspects jumped out of the car after police arrived at the scene. One person was taken into custody there, and a second was apprehended later.
About a half-hour after the initial report, an officer saw people matching the suspects’ description 20 blocks from the original scene and approached them in his patrol car.
Tomasic says the officer was shot multiple times and his wounds are considered life-threatening, but he couldn’t say where on the body the officer was shot.
3:10 p.m.
An officer with Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department is in critical condition after being shot while investigating a report of person being shot at by several people in a vehicle.
Police say three or four people were inside the vehicle but jumped out and ran when officers arrived at the scene at 1:37 p.m. Tuesday. An officer took a suspect into custody at 1:39 p.m. A different officer was shot at 1:57 p.m. when he tried to make contact with another suspect.
Police spokesman Cameron Morgan says the search continues for additional suspects.
Tuesday’s shooting was the second of a Kansas City, Kansas, police officer since early May, when a police detective was shot and killed near Kansas Speedway
