Chief Zeigler tweeted news of the shooting just after 2 p.m. local time and the police department later confirmed the officer had died from his injuries. When officers, including Melton, arrived at the scene, they saw three or four suspects jump from a vehicle and flee.
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Police took three people into custody after the shooting, but have not yet named the suspects or said if the suspect responsible for the shooting was in custody.
Capt. Robert Dave Melton was identified as the officer who was shot and died, KCTV reported.
When Melton arrived at the University of Kansas Hospital at 2:22 p.m.
Police say they are looking for a third suspect and possibly a fourth. Brad Lancaster was shot and killed May 9 while trying to apprehend a carjacking suspect. As the second officer pursued the other suspects and made contact with one of them at 1:57 p.m., multiple shots were fired, and the officer was hit.
A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the Associated Press that the agency has about 20 agents on the scene.
The region is also reeling after the revelation that Gavin Long, the suspected shooter in Sunday’s deadly ambush of three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was from neighboring Kansas City, Missouri.
Federal authorities are calling it a “large crime scene”. He had been with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department since 1999.
When officers arrived on the scene, several people fled from the vehicle.
The incident Tuesday was the second shooting of a police officer in Kansas City since early May, when a police detective was shot and killed near Kansas Speedway.
“We need to be in prayer for our community”, the mayor said, according to the Star.
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When asked if Melton was alone, Tomasic said, “He was alone at the time”.
