SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for Aggravated Battery.
Early Tuesday, Salina Police were sent to the Ambassador Hotel, 1616 West Crawford, after report of a physical domestic disturbance. The suspect 27-year-old Kristofer Dillon of McPherson left before police arrived, according to Capt. Paul Forrester.
Dillon returned around 1 a.m. Tuesday and the dispute turned violent. The female victim was able to escape after Dillon allegedly choked her twice and threatened her life. The hotel desk clerk helped hide the victim until police arrived.
Dillon again fled before police arrived. Capt. Forrester said that officers arrested him several hours later when he returned to the hotel.
Dillon was booked into the Saline County Jail for aggravated domestic battery, criminal threat, aggravated intimidation of a victim. Dillon has two previous drug convictions, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Police on the scene at a Topeka home Monday-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY —Early Monday, Police responded to the 1100 Block of SW High in Topeka for a report of a domestic disturbance, according to a media release.
On arrival as officers approached the residence they observed two persons inside, one with a gun. As the officers began to notify dispatch they heard gunshots and reported in as officers in danger.
Upon other agencies and officer’s arrival attempts at contacting the occupants of the residence were unsuccessful. The TPD, Shawnee Sheriff and Kansas Highway Patrol Response Teams and TPD Crisis Negotiators were called to the scene to assist in contact and stabilization. The Response Team was able to observe two people down inside the residence.
Lt. Colleen Stuart said officers eventually sent a robot into the house. The robot found the two people dead.
Those two persons have been identified as estranged husband and wife Tabitha Krystofosky, 27 and John Krystofosky, 27, of Topeka. The Shawnee County Coroner has determined Mrs. Krystofoskys injuries were consistent with homicide. Mr. Krystofoskys injuries are consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot.
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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Two people were found dead after a standoff at a home in Topeka.
The standoff began at the home Monday morning after officers responded to a call about a domestic violence situation, according to police. When officers arrived, they heard gunfire.
Officers removed one person from the home’s front porch.
Lt. Colleen Stuart said officers eventually sent a robot into the house. The robot found the two people dead.
Their names and the cause of death have not been released.
Police also didn’t say how the person on the front porch was involved.
Police on the scene of Sunday’s shooting photo courtesy KCTV
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Lenexa police say a man who was shot to death by an off-duty officer at a Costco in Kansas didn’t appear to have specific targets when he walked into the store screaming and waving a gun.
Investigators say 58-year-old Ronald Hunt was living in his truck in the Costco parking lot in Lenexa before he entered the store Sunday.
Lenexa Police spokesman Danny Chavez says investigators have not determined Hunt’s motive for terrorizing customers and employees before he was shot. He says Hunt apparently never fired his weapon.
The Kansas City Star reports Hunt was a long-haul trucker who lived in the cab of his truck.
Investigators have had a difficult time finding any relatives. The only address listed for Hunt was the Swift Transportation Kansas Terminal in Edwardsville, Kansas.
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LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Investigators are trying to determine why a Kansas man entered a suburban Kansas City Costco with a handgun and began screaming, prompting an off-duty police officer to fatally shoot him.
Police identified the man shot to death Sunday at a Costco in Lenexa as 58-year-old Ronald Hunt, of Edwardsville. Witnesses and police said he was yelling and threatening customers when Kansas City, Kansas, police captain Michael Howell shot him while customers and employees fled.
Howell, who was shopping at the time, has 22 years of law enforcement experience. The police department said Monday Howell fired his weapon after being confronted with a deadly situation.
No one else was injured.
Hunt’s motive and why he was in the store are under investigation. A Johnson County police unit is leading the investigation.
Crews continue to monitor the massive cotton bale fire in Harper County -photo courtesy KWCH
ANTHONY, Kan. (AP) — A fire has been reported at a gin in southern Kansas where as many as 300 bales of cotton are burning.
The fire was discovered Monday at the Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Co-op Gin near Anthony. Manager Gary Feist says he received a call that one of the gin’s pods of cotton caught fire.
Feist suspects the fire came from the middle of one of the bales. He says they can smolder internally without anyone knowing.
Feist says the fire is under control because wind conditions have been ideal. He says the fire could take a few days to extinguish and that crews are monitoring the increasing wind speed.
Feist estimates the loss at about $300,000 due to the fire.
LYON COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, and Lyon County Crime Stoppers are asking anyone with information related to the Sept. 6 murder of Emporia teenager, Jesus Avila-Galvin Jr., to come forward. Avila’s body was found in a vehicle near Road 160 and Road T in rural Lyon County.
The KBI, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, the Emporia Police Department, the Office of the State Fire Marshall, and the Emporia State University Police continue their efforts to resolve this case, and believe even the smallest detail could aid in bringing justice to Avila’s family.
Anyone with information about this crime or the person(s) who are responsible is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME or Lyon County Crime Stoppers at 620-342-2273. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers online at www.P3tips.com or through the P3Tips mobile application. Information which assists law enforcement in this investigation is eligible for a Crime Stoppers cash reward of up to $2,000.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to hear the appeal of a Kansas man who tried to set off what he thought was a bomb at an Army post to support the Islamic State.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed on Tuesday the appeal filed by John T. Booker, Jr., of Topeka challenging some conditions of his supervised release. It ruled the Topeka man had waived his appeal rights in his plea deal.
Booker was sentenced in July to 30 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to one count each of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to destroy government property with an explosive.
He was arrested in 2015 outside Fort Riley in Kansas.
MANHATTAN — Mary Vanier, Manhattan, has given a gift of $1 million to Kansas State University to create at least 30 matching gift scholarships as part of the K-State Family Scholarship Program. This program is an initiative of the Kansas State University Foundation to increase scholarship dollars to help the university attract and retain students and to inspire new donors to invest in student success, according to a media release.
The Mary L. Vanier K-State Family Scholarship will be used to match at least 30 new gifts for scholarships. New gifts of $30,000 will be matched with $30,000 from Vanier’s gift, while $10,000 will go into an expendable scholarship fund, making $2,000 scholarships immediately available to students. New gifts of $30,000 will be matched with $30,000 from Vanier’s gift, while $10,000 will go into an expendable scholarship fund, making $2,000 scholarships immediately available to students. Fifty thousand dollars will go into the endowment, ensuring future generations of Wildcats will receive scholarships as well.
The program’s goal is to widen the philanthropic support base for Kansas State University by inspiring new donors to give while creating scholarships necessary to help students attend the university today and in the future.
“I hope this inspires those who have thought about setting up a scholarship but haven’t because they couldn’t meet the minimum endowment requirement,” Vanier said. “It’s going to take all of us to support K-State, and this program offers a wonderful way to get involved. With this match program, our newest donors can make a significant impact on students right away.
“We are at a very critical time at Kansas State University due to decreased state support of higher education and decreased enrollments,” Vanier said. “I hope this gift and the 30 gifts it inspires will send a message to the young people who want to attend K-State that we care, we want you at our university, and we support your goals of attaining a college degree.”
The K-State Family Scholarship Program is looking to expand.
“We are asking our most loyal and generous donors to lay the financial foundation, as Mary Vanier has, to build a successful scholarship program by offering matching funds,” said Greg Willems, president of the KSU Foundation. “Widening our donor base will be imperative to creating the substantial increase in student support required to attract and retain students to K-State, now and in the future. The creation of matching scholarships is a powerful expression of what it means to live up to the true spirit of the K-State family.”
Police on the scene of traffic stop early Tuesday -photo courtesy KCTV
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have found a woman dead inside a vehicle after the driver was stopped for speeding in suburban Kansas City while attempting to rush the woman to a hospital.
Officers & detectives working a homicide at 7th & Armstrong.
Kansas City, Kansas, police said in a news release that police in neighboring Mission, Kansas, stopped the vehicle early Tuesday. Inside officers found a 28-year-old woman dead from an apparent gunshot wound.
The release says the investigation determined that the crime happened in Kansas City, Kansas. The name of the slain woman wasn’t immediately released.
SALINE COUNTY — Several Saline County Sheriff’s Deputies were injured attempting to subdue a suspect “with excited delirium,” according to Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander.
Just before 12:30 Monday, deputies were dispatched to Scoular Elevator in the 3300 Block of East Country Club Road after several employees reported that a shirtless man was attempting to steal tools from a construction site behind the elevator.
When confronted by the employees, the suspect, later identified as 32-year-old Manuel Zapien, Jr., of Turon, began swinging around a segment of rebar, according to Melander.
Zapien attempted to flee on foot when deputies arrived. Undersheriff Melander said the suspect seemed extremely incoherent, babbling and fell down.
Zapien was also uncooperative, fighting with deputies and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers who were assisting.
Zapien was tased twice during the confrontation but to no avail. Sheriff Melander said that the suspect was suffering from excited delirium and could not feel pain.
It took a combination of five deputies and troopers to hold Zapien down and place him in custody. He was then sedated by paramedics and transported to Salina Regional Health Center, where he was observed until around 8 p.m.
Three deputies, Eric Appel, Robert Little and Chad Flesher, were injured during the confrontation. Appel and Flesher were transported to the hospital and Little was treated and released at the scene.
Zapien was in possession of a pipe that field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to Melander.
Zapien was booked into the Saline County Jail for three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, possession of a narcotic, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal damage to property and additional charges may follow.
He has previous convictions for drugs and aggravated indecent liberties with a victim under the age of 16, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State officials in Kansas are insisting that eliminated and delayed payments to a pension fund for teachers and other government workers won’t affect retirees.
Officials with the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System assured retirees’ financial safety to a legislative oversight committee on Monday. The message is part of the retirement system’s annual report to the Legislature about the actuarial value of the pension fund and the estimated difference between its current assets and long-term obligations.
KPERS is a pension system that manages retirement accounts of more than 300,000 members, including state employees. The state eliminated a nearly $100 million payment to the pension fund last year. Lawmakers also delayed a $64 million payment this year.
