SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and asking for help to locate two suspects.
Just after 9p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of an armed robbery at a Kneaders Bakery in the 1800 Block of North Rock Road in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson. Two unknown suspects including one wearing a bunny mask entered the business and displayed handguns. They took approximately $600 cash and fled on foot, according to Davidson. There were no injuries.
In addition to the mask, the suspects are described as 25-year-old black men wearing black dark clothing. The other suspect also wore a white bandanna with writing on it.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Wichita Police.
Law enforcement on the scene of the active shooter investigation Wednesday in Garden City -photo courtesy KWCH
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the circumstances involving reports of an active shooter.
Just after 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, the police received two reports at approximately the same time reporting a possible active shooter at St. Catherine Hospital, 401 E Spruce Street in Garden City, according to a media release.
Officers of the Garden City Police Department, Finney County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Highway Patrol, Holcomb Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation responded.
Officers arrived on scene and conducted a protective sweep of the facility. No shooter or victims were located.
The investigation revealed that Centura Health/Catholic Health Initiatives had received email threats referencing a civil litigation case they were involved in. As a precaution and after consultation with law enforcement St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City and the hospital in Grant County decided to initiate their security protocol and placed the hospitals on limited access based on the email threats. Neither location nor associates were named in the threat. When they did this, two people in the hospital at St. Catherine were unaware of why the hospital initiated their security protocols and contacted friends and family reporting that something was going on in the hospital. The friends and family took the information provided to them and called the Garden City Police reporting a possible active shooter.
Further investigation led police to identify a suspect, Scott Bain, 51, Ulysses who allegedly was sending the earlier emails. The Grant County Sheriff’s Office was able to locate and arrest Bain. He was arrested and lodged in the Grant County Jail for Aggravated Criminal Threat for the earlier emails. The Garden City Police Department is assisting the Grant County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation.
A report was taken for Aggravated Criminal Threat for the reported active shooter at St. Catherine Hospital. This report was unfounded. For further information about the initial criminal threat by email, contact the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
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FINNEY COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities investigated a report of an active shooter in Garden City Wednesday evening.
Just after 8 p.m., police received a call of an active shooter at St. Catherine Hospital in the 400 Block of Spruce Street.
The Police responded and the hospital was placed on lockdown as a security precaution. There have been no injuries reported and there is no evidence there was an active shooter.
Just before 9:30 p.m., police cleared the hospital. Officials with St. Catharine and Garden City police are continuing to investigate and released no additional information late Wednesday.
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FINNEY COUNTY – Authorities are investigating report of an active shooter in Garden City.
St. Catherine Hospital in the 400 Block of Spruce Street received an unconfirmed active shooter call, according to a social media report.
Police are on scene. No active shooter has been identified. The hospital is on lockdown as a security precaution. There have been no injuries report.
RENO COUNTY — A Hutchinson man was injured in an accident just after 11a.m. Thursday in Reno County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Chevy pickup driven by, Michael Winkel, 66, Hutchinson, was traveling southeast on Kansas 61 three miles northeast of Turon.
Due to a medical issue, the vehicle veered off the roadway and partially rolled in the north ditch.
Winkel was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas lawmakers are questioning the impact of recent welfare policies after new data showed a growing number of people ineligible for cash assistance.
The Legislative Budget Committee was briefed Wednesday on the new consensus revenue estimates, as well as new estimates about the cost of social services like Medicaid, foster care and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
The numbers from the Department for Children and Families estimate that nearly 44,000 people have become ineligible for TANF under those policies.
Several committee members say thousands have been coming off TANF each year since 2013 while the number of foster care children has been climbing.
Some lawmakers think the two trends are linked. A Republican lawmaker believes critics are jumping to conclusions.
Caleb E. Moraine -photo courtesy Police Chief Gordon Ramsay
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man with terminal bone cancer has fulfilled his dream of becoming a police officer.
Caleb Moraine was sworn in Wednesday as a Wichita police officer shortly after turning 20. A crowd dabbed away tears as Moraine rose out of his wheelchair and raised his right hand. His voice was barely above a whisper as he repeated the oath new officers take as best he could.
Chief Gordon Ramsay described Moraine as “a brave young man.”
Moraine had wanted to be a police officer since he was 10 years old. Since being diagnosed with cancer when he was 16, he’s had serious surgeries.
His mother, Renee, said that it has “been a long road, a long battle for Caleb.”
First responders on the scene of Wednesday’s attack-photo courtesy KCTV
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Police in Kansas City are searching for a man suspected of using a cane with a knife at the end to fatally stab one person and injure another.
Police spokesman Darrin Snapp says the attack happened Wednesday after the suspect and one of the victims argued inside a gas station in the city’s West Bottoms area. The Kansas City Star reports that the second victim was stabbed after coming to the aide of the first victim. The surviving victim was in critical condition.
Snapp says the suspect is in his 50s. He was last seen leaving area on foot.
RENO COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Reno County.
A 2002 Jeep Liberty driven by Walter Walker, 76, Buhler, was northbound in the 5900 Block of Buhler Road, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department.
Walker told deputies he saw headlights and flashers of an unknown vehicle on the bridge coming toward him but was unaware of the size of the vehicle.
The Jeep struck the outside dual tire of a tractor driven by Lee Robinson, 50, Hutchinson.
EMS transported Lee to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Walter declined treatment. The accident remains under investigation, according to the sheriff’s department.
SUMNER COUNTY — An earthquake shook Kansas Thursday morning. The quake just after 2:30 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.9 and was centered approximately 17 miles southeast of Caldwell, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It is the first quake reported in Kansas since a 2.7 quake near Bell Plaine on October 19.
There are no reports of damage or injury from Thursday’s quake.
Wednesday fire at a Topeka home was intentionally set-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that was intentionally set.
Just after 10a.m. Wednesday, fire crews responded to a fire at a home at 902 NE Winfield Avenue in Topeka, according to a media release.
Fire crews found the single-story wood framed residential structure with heavy smoke and flames. Firefighters began an offensive fire attack and protected the surrounding structures, keeping it confined to the structure of fire origin. Firefighters performed a search of the structure and found no occupants.
A Topeka Fire Department Investigation’s Unit responded to the scene and determined the fire was intentionally set. The fire caused $16,000 structural loss and $20,000 contents loss.
PRATT COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue to investigate a criminal threat at Pratt High School.
According to Pratt Police, staff members at Pratt High School received a bomb threat from an unidentified person(s) through a fictitious e-mail account. In response, school administrators contacted officers of the Pratt Police Department and began planning for the evacuation of school students and staff and the cancellation of school events.
On Tuesday, officers of the Pratt Police Department, assisted by Troopers
from the Kansas Highway Patrol and their canine partners, conducted a
search of all USD 382 facilities. Following the search, supplemented by
USD 382 staff, officers were able to determine there to have been no device as indicated by the e-mail.
On Wednesday, acting on information obtained through a cooperative
investigation by school officials and local enforcement officers, a subject
was identified and taken into custody without incident. She is
identified as Claudia Rodriguez-Oviedo, a 32-year-old white female, has
been booked into the Pratt County Jail on felony charges of Aggravated
Criminal Threat and Unlawful use of computers.
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PRATT COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and school district officials continue to investigate the alleged online threat against the schools in Pratt.
On Wednesday, the Pratt Police Department informed USD 382 officials that the investigation led to an arrest in connection with the email threat that prompted the district to cancel Monday night activities and classes on Tuesday, according Superintendent Suzan Patton.
The school district released no additional details Wednesday afternoon.
Police are expected to release additional details on the arrest of 32-year-old Claudia Rodriguez-Oviedo. She was listed as a secretary for Southwest Elementary School in Pratt. They removed her name from the school web site late Wednesday.
She is being held in the Pratt County Jail on a $10, 000 Bond for Aggravated Criminal Threat; Cause Terror, Evacuation or Disruption and Computer Unlawful Acts; Access without Authorization with Damage.
