Suspect dead, three officers wounded in Kansas City shootouts

Police shot and killed a man on Sunday after a series of shootouts on the streets of Kansas City in which three officers were wounded and hospitalized in stable condition, officials said.

Undercover and tactical officers were following a person of interest in the murder of a university student when suddenly and unexpectedly he fired on them with a rifle, according to police in Kansas City, Missouri.

Two of the officers were struck at that time, police said.

“We’ve been looking for him all week. This was the first time we laid eyes on him,” Police Chief Rick Smith told reporters near the scene.

The suspect fled in a vehicle which was found a short time later. During the search that followed the suspect fired on officers again, police said on Twitter. A third officer was hit by gunfire and also in stable condition.

“All right now appear to have non-life-threatening injuries, thank God,” Smith said.

A few minutes later, the suspect fled from a home where he had been hiding and again exchanged gunfire with police, whereupon he was shot, taken into custody, and declared dead by the Kansas City Fire Department, police said.

Police were not releasing the dead man’s identity, a spokeswoman said.

Officers came across the suspect during their investigation into the robbery and murder of Sharath Koppu, a 25-year-old student from India at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who was shot a week earlier at a Kansas City restaurant. Koppu was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Koppu was a computer engineer who came to the United States in January to pursue his master’s degree, according to a cousin who started a GoFundMe account. The fund raised more than $50,000 to repatriate his body to India for last rites.

Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Daniel Wallis