(KAIR)--Investigators are working to verify details, while poring over information, following a vehicle pursuit Friday night that ended tragically in Leavenworth when a young child was killed.
Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens says his department became involved around 7:30 when notified by Platte County, Missouri authorities that they were pursuing a kidnapping suspect who was traveling with a child.
The suspect vehicle crossed the Centennial Bridge into Leavenworth but was forced to stop when it ran into construction on Metropolitan Avenue, leaving the vehicle disabled.
“The suspect got out and we had an exchange of gunfire,” Kitchens tells MSC News. “The suspect was wounded at some point. The suspect, we believe, shot and killed the small child that was in the car. Our officers were able to shoot again and incapacitate him. He was wounded seriously [and] taken by ambulance to a Kansas City hospital for his injuries.”
Kitchens says the child was pronounced dead at the scene, but would not specify the victim's relationship with the man. He also declined to provide additional details about the child, despite at least one Kansas City television station referring to the child as a girl.
Speculation has placed a pursuit that happened Friday evening in Atchison as related to the case, but Kitchens says he can't confirm the correlation. “We're still trying to sort that out. We do have some information, but, again, we need to verify a lot of that before we can speak publicly about it. I can just tell you that we became involved when the chase crossed from Missouri into Kansas into the city of Leavenworth.”
Kitchens says it's possible that more details regarding the tragic incident will be known, and made public, sometime Saturday.
© Many Signals Communication
MOST VIEWED STORIES
Holton man killed in Jackson Co crash
Morrill pair arrested on drug, child endangerment charges
Falls City man sentenced to Federal Prison
Ground Broken for new Sac and Fox Trad'n Post
Local residents avoid injury in chain reaction crash
Horton City Clerk's resignation accepted Monday
Jackson Co traffic stop leads to arrest
One held for past Atchison shooting
90 mph+ downburst winds blamed for Thursday damage
Wamego man sentenced in second fentanyl-related death
Stolen trailer, 4-wheeler, recovered in Atchison
Mayetta pair arrested on meth, child endangerment charges
Early Thursday storms leave damage, outages, locally
Juveniles face charges following Atchison break-in
Effingham owner regains truck following theft, arrest
Cold case investigation leads to Holton warrant
Atchison Co's Oswald named honorary bailiff for KS Court
LATEST STORIES
Effingham owner regains truck following theft, arrest
Cold case investigation leads to Holton warrant
Senator Slama on tax relief efforts
SE Nebraska March unemployment report
Falls City Career Academy to open during 24-25 school year
Denim Day declared for Nebraska state colleges
McLouth man injured in Monday wreck
Horton City Clerk's resignation accepted Monday