Authorities investigating double homicide, shooting suspect suicide in southeast KS
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says an Elk County man fatally shot two people at an outdoor gathering early Thursday morning then retreated to a nearby home and killed himself in the attic.
The suspect in the homicides, 41-year-old Lyle W. Miller of Longton, appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the KBI said in a news release.
The homicide victims are 55-year-old Dewayne L. Smith of Longton and a 57-year-old Longton man who was not immediately identified Thursday pending notification of his death to family members.
Authorities say Smith, the 57-year-old and three other men were outside of a Longton home, 205 W. 5th St., late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning when Miller showed up. Miller wasn’t there long, the KBI said, before he “pulled a pistol from his waist and shot Smith and the 57-year-old man at close range.”
Authorities received a 911 call about the shootings at about 12:10 a.m. Thursday. Smith and the 57-year-old man were pronounced dead at the scene.
Miller fled to a home at 107 W. 5th St. in Longton and was later found dead by law enforcement who spent several hours trying to convince him to come out. After not receiving a response, authorities at around 5:50 a.m. Thursday sent in a robot that found Miller’s body in the attic. Tactical teams that went into the home confirmed the death, the KBI says.
The motive for the shootings was not immediately released. But the KBI says there is no ongoing public threat.
“Autopsies will be performed. The investigation is ongoing,” the KBI said in a news release.
Elk County is in southeast Kansas, about 90 miles from Wichita.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 1:22 PM.
