Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is ordering flags in Wyandotte County to be lowered to half-staff in memory of a slain police detective.
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Police did not immediately release his name, though Carolynn Lancaster told the Kansas City Star the detective was her son, 39-year-old Brad Lancaster.
Lancaster, a nine-year veteran of the KCK Police Department, died Monday afternoon after a recent parolee allegedly shot him near the Kansas Speedway.
The search for suspect Curtis Ayers led to a road closure, traffic delays and school lockouts in the Bonner Springs/Edwardsville Unified School District 204. Ayers is suspected of gunning down a police detective in Kansas and was charged Tuesday, May 10, 2016, with shooting and wounding a woman in a botched carjacking in Missouri moments before he was shot by police and captured.
The intentional killing of a police officer carries a possible death sentence in Kansas, though no charges were immediately filed Tuesday against Ayers. Ayers was hospitalized in stable condition, police spokesman Patrick McCallop said.
Ayers ditched the detective’s vehicle and picked up two more before police caught up with him Monday afternoon, police spokeswoman Amber Thomas said. Lancaster was married and the father of two daughters.
Police say the detective was shot at least twice about 12:30 p.m. Monday while helping respond to a report of a suspicious person near the Kansas Speedway. Ayers was shot by police during an attempted carjacking.
At about 12:15 p.m. Monday afternoon, Lancaster was one of several officers responding to reports of a suspicious person outside the Hollywood Casino, which is adjacent to the track.
“We work closely with the police officers in our area and we appreciate everything they do to keep our community safe, along with the police officers across the country who serve and protect their respective communities”. Chris Schneider, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Wyandotte County where Lancaster was shot, said charges likely would come Wednesday, citing the multi-jurisdictional investigation he described as “fluid”.
They say Lancaster was stepping in to help a fellow officer and his efforts took a turn for the worse.
A police officer had begun to follow the suspect vehicle, but he fled until the vehicle collided with a bridge support. “I’m not sure if (the casino) just felt something different about him” and felt compelled to report it. He later hijacked a vehicle with two children inside before abandoning that in nearby Basehor, KS. He said Monday that the detective had “fought a good fight, but unfortunately he died from his injuries”.
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This undated photo provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections shows Curtis Ayers.
