Gunman at Kansas grocery store took coworker hostage before shooting him, KBI says

Investigators say that a gunman at a southeast Kansas grocery store took an employee hostage before shooting him — and then himself.

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded at around 3:35 p.m. Monday to a report of a man with a gun at the G&W Foods grocery store in Cherryvale, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.

Responding officers found that the armed man was an employee of the grocery store and was holding a coworker hostage in an office at the store, the KBI said. The officers were evacuating customers and employees when they heard gunshots from the office.

“As authorities entered the office, they witnessed the 28-year-old suspect shoot himself,” the KBI said. “They also located his 39-year-old coworker suffering from gunshot wounds.”

The shooting victim was flown to a Joplin, Missouri, hospital where he underwent surgery, the KBI said. His condition has been upgraded to fair.

The shooting suspect was taken to a local hospital, stabilized then flown to a Tulsa hospital, where he died from his injuries. He was identified as Jamal Brown, 28, of Independence.

The investigation is ongoing. Agencies involved in the initial response were the Cherryvale Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Highway Patrol.

Cherryvale is about 120 miles southeast of Wichita.

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 10:05 PM.