Man shot in jaw after shooting at Wichita officers, police say

Wichita police said a man shot at police at around 10 a.m. Wednesday as they responded to a call about a disturbance inside a business in the 700 block of North Gilda.

A man fired shots inside the business, then went into the parking lot and fired at officers, Deputy Chief Troy Livingston said. It wasn’t immediately known who the man shot at inside the business. The shooting happened near Central and I-235.

The suspect was identified late Wednesday by Wichita police as Elijah Martinez.

Officers fired back, and the man was hit in his lower jaw. He stole a silver Nissan truck and a chase ensued, Livingston said.

The man fired at an officer sitting near I-235 and Central and swerved at an officer who tried to place stop sticks in the road to puncture the truck’s tires near Maple and Meridian, Livingston said.

The chase ended near Maple and Maize when the truck crashed. The man was taken into custody and was at a local hospital in fair condition. His injuries were not life-threatening, Livingston said.

One officer injured his hand at Gilda, but Chief Gordon Ramsay said no officers were shot.

Police were originally called about the man when residents near Gilda saw him and a woman stealing mail along a residential street. The residents followed the suspects until police arrived. Livingston wouldn’t name the business the man was inside, and provided no additional details on the reported disturbance.

Livingston said police chased the man because they “make it a practice to chase people who are committing serious crimes.”

“Once he shot at the officers, we have severe charges against that person,” Livingston said. “Feeling that he’s a danger to the community, we elected to pursue.”

Speeds reached near 95 mph, according to scanner traffic during the chase.

The woman the suspect was with was taken into custody without incident in the 700 block of North Gilda.

People who live and work in the neighborhood near Gilda and Central say they heard at least two shots then saw a white truck speed away. One man told The Eagle he was inside his house when he heard a “pop, pop,” but he thought the sounds might be from a neighbor working in the garage. “I didn’t even look outside at first,” he said.

Another man who lives nearby said he saw the truck head down a small stretch of gravel road, but it was going so fast that he couldn’t see who was inside.

Police at the scene of the shooting mid-morning on Wednesday blocked off the road with caution cones and studied tire tracks in the gravel. Other officers were in a business parking lot around the corner.

Wednesday afternoon, police and investigators with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation were interviewing officers who were involved in the shooting. The five officers involved range in experience from 18 to 25 years with the department. Two officers were placed on administrative leave, according to department policy.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Man shot in jaw after shooting at Wichita officers, police say."