KBI Press Release/Image courtesy KBI
UPDATE 06/03:
| Kansas Blue Alert is Canceled, Suspect in custody ELLLIS COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) has now canceled the Kansas Blue Alert that was issued after law enforcement were searching for a suspect believed to have shot a Lee’s Summit police officer Sunday night. The alert was canceled Tuesday morning, June 3, after Thomas Eugene Tolbert, 27, was located and apprehended in Ellis, Kansas. In the early morning hours, law enforcement received information indicating that Tolbert might be inside a hotel at 204 N. Washington St. in Ellis. Officers from the Hays Police Department, deputies from the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office and KBI agents arrived at the hotel and safely took Tolbert into custody at around 4:50 a.m. Tolbert was arrested on a Missouri warrant for assault first-degree or attempted serious physical injury, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm, resisting arrest or detention by fleeing, and second-degree domestic assault. He was booked into the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office Jail. |
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) has issued a blue alert in Kansas on behalf of Missouri, after a Lee’s Summit officer was shot and critically injured Sunday night.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) issued the blue alert Monday morning trying to locate a suspect wanted in related to the shooting. The alert was later extended into Kansas.
Authorities are looking for Thomas Eugene Tolbert, 27. Tolbert is a black male, around 240 pounds, and is 6 foot 2 inches tall with brown eyes and black hair. At the time he was last seen, he was wearing a black top with a hood, and black shorts.
He is armed with a handgun and considered dangerous.
Around 11 p.m, Sunday, June 1, law enforcement responded to a domestic disturbance at 3560 SW Hollywood Drive in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. After a short foot pursuit between Tolbert and officers, Tolbert shot a Lee’s Summit police officer, seriously injuring him.
Tolbert left the scene in a vehicle that has since been recovered in Grandview, Missouri, but Tolbert remains on the loose.
A wireless emergency alert was issued in several Kansas City metro counties on the Kansas side.
Anyone who sees Tolbert should immediately call 911. Any other information about his whereabouts should be reported at 1-800-KS-CRIME.
