A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer fatally shot while responding to a gunfire report Tuesday was not ambushed, NBC News reported.
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“Captain Melton’s philosophy was to ‘lead from the front.’ He was an excellent example in the department”, said Chief Zeigler.
The suspect vehicle took off as police arrived, but it crashed into a fence and the occupants bailed out at 1:36 p.m., Tomasic said.
A second suspect was taken into custody later and police were looking for at least one more person. Another black gunman killed three police officers and wounded three others in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last Sunday.
Zeigler said Melton was wearing a protective vest.
Authorities said another news conference in the Melton shooting is planned for Wednesday morning.
Police spokesman Tom Tomasic said Melton was searching for a suspect in a drive-by shooting when he drove up to someone matching the description. “Our blue line got a little thinner yesterday with the loss of Capt. Melton”, Zeigler said.
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. A suspect shot at Melton’s auto through the passenger side window at 22nd and Haskell.
Just 10 days earlier, a gunman in Dallas who killed five police officers had said he was angered by fatal police actions and wanted to kill officers, authorities said.
“Hate and anti-police speech has got to stop”, Zeigler said.
“There’s a lot of pain and brokenness in our community and in our nation right now”.
As of Wednesday night, the victim was at a hospital in critical condition.
Melton, who friends and family knew as Dave, had been with the department for 17 years and previously worked with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office for another nine years. Melton’s “death reopens a raw hurt still festering within our community”, Holland said.
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He also was a member of the honor guard at the funeral for detective Brad Lancaster, who fatally was shot near Kansas Speedway on May 9.
