3 suspects in Oklahoma officer’s shooting captured
May 29, 2015, 11:00 AM
LIBERTY, Kan. (AP) — Two men and a woman have been arrested in southeastern Kansas in the shooting of a police officer in neighboring Oklahoma, after leading law enforcement on a car chase across state lines.
Cesar Rios, 23, and Roxanne Mendoza, 20, were arrested Thursday night in South Coffeyville, just south of the Kansas border. Alejandro Garcia, 22, was found Friday morning, hiding in a closet inside a home east of Liberty, Kansas, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office.
No other details about the suspects or possible charges against them have been released.
The incident began when an officer tried to stop an SUV Thursday evening in Rogers County, Oklahoma. The vehicle took off with three people inside, headed north, South Coffeyville Police Chief Wade Lamb told the Tulsa World.
During the chase, someone inside the SUV shot at an Oologah police cruiser that was assisting in the chase, striking an officer in the head, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Dwight Durant said.
The cruiser crashed into a ditch and the officer was airlifted to a Tulsa hospital. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Friday that the officer is recovering from non-life threatening wounds. The bureau did not identify the officer.
Coffeyville police officers discovered the car unoccupied and quickly found Rios and Mendoza, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. A short time later, a motorist reported seeing a man apparently carrying a handgun jump into a pickup truck and drive away.
The driver of the truck was shot, the office said. His condition was not available Friday.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Grimes followed the truck, which eventually pulled into a driveway. The sheriff’s office said Garcia got out of the truck and shot at Grimes before fleeing toward the house. Several law enforcement agencies arrived and officers finally entered the home early Friday, where Garcia was found in the closet.
All the suspects are being held in the Montgomery County jail.
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