Suspect KCPD had zeroed in on dies in shootout, three officers hurt by gunfire


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An suspected gunman died in a shootout on Sunday after shooting three police officers in separate locations. All of those officers are expected to pull through.

The man killed has been wanted for a while. Around noon, undercover detectives went to Sky-Vu Motel on 40 Highway, next to I-435, to try and make an arrest. That's when the suspect they were trailing shot two officers in their patrol car with a rifle.

"It was for this, we were trying to get up on this individual - we`d been looking for him all week. This was the first time we laid eyes on him," Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith said.

Police haven't said whether the suspect was staying at the motel. FOX4 spoke with guests who said the first shooting lasted less than a minute.

"They were telling everybody to go back into their rooms and everything. I didn`t see anything, I just heard the gunshots. I took cover in my bathroom. That`s the safest place you can go when stuff like that happen," motel guest Lester Kelby said.

The suspect then drove off in a car with another person inside - that person was later taken into custody.

The suspect drove west, then ditched the car. Police caught up with him in a home near 30th and Topping, just north of I-70, and about four miles from the motel. Over the course of about an hour police exchanged gunfire with him at least three times. That's when the third officer was hit.

Around 1:15 p.m., more than an hour after the first shooting, the suspect left the house, exchanged gunfire again, and died in that exchange.

Detectives then spent hours processing each scene. Bullet holes could be seen in the window of one of the motel rooms. The police cruiser that was parked out front had at least seven bullet holes.

It was a tense afternoon at the scene where the suspect died, with a nearly seven-hour standoff coming to an end after officers successfully entered a house where they found the suspect.

Officers using some kind of flash-bang device around 6 p.m. to blast their way into the house at 30th and Topping. One neighbor told FOX4 that she's seen the suspect in the neighborhood before, but believes the house where everything happened was vacant.

Police roped off about a three-block area and waited to get a warrant to search the entire property. They were able to get in and clear the scene just before 7 p.m., and found no one inside the house.

Now, there's a major crime scene operation, as investigators look for clues about the suspect, and recover evidence that will piece all of this together Police have said the original attempt to arrest the suspect was connected to the recent murder of Sharath Koppu, an Indian man studying at UMKC.
