Law enforcement at the scene Wednesday afternoon -photo courtesy KMBC TV
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A soldier stationed in Kansas saved “countless lives” Wednesday when he hit a man with his car as the man was shooting randomly at people on a bridge near an Army base, a police chief said.
One person was injured by the shooter, according to Leavenworth police Chief Patrick Kitchens. That person, also a soldier, was a random victim, Kitchens said.
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Officers initially believed they were responding to a road rage incident on the Centennial Bridge that connects Leavenworth, Kansas, and Platte City, Missouri, not far from Fort Leavenworth, Kitchens said. Instead, they discovered that a man had been using multiple weapons to fire randomly at vehicles. The suspect was trapped under a car, Kitchens said.
Kitchens said the soldier who ran over the gunman had been waiting in traffic when he saw what was happening.
“The soldier intervened by striking the shooter with his vehicle, causing him to be critically injured, but ending the encounter with the active shooter and likely saving countless lives,” Kitchens said.
Both the shooting victim and the suspect were in serious but stable condition in a Kansas City hospital, police said.
Kitchens said no motive for the shooting has been determined. The suspect is from Platte County, Missouri.
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By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Centennial Bridge, which spans the Missouri River between Platte City and Leavenworth, is closed to traffic as police investigate a reported road rage incident late this morning which might have sparked gunfire.
The Leavenworth Police Department posted on its Facebook page that the emergency situation on the bridge is over with police on the scene. The department says there will be no traffic on the bridge until further notice.
The Platte County Sheriff’s Department reports it has no details on the incident to report at this time; only that the bridge is closed while the investigation continues.