Man arrested, accused of shooting at undercover police officers in northeast Wichita
A 54-year-old man was arrested Saturday after undercover officers were shot at while watching a home in northeast Wichita, police said.
The man was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail at 2:26 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm and one count of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, jail records show.
Wichita officers were performing undercover work in the 1400 block of N. Grove. They were sitting in an unmarked car monitoring a home believed to be tied to recent armed robberies, a police news release said Monday.
Officers noticed a silver-colored vehicle that police suspect is tied to the robberies parked at the home. They saw people get in the car and drive away. The car was stopped and the occupants were detained for questioning by officers, police said.
Back at the residence, the undercover officers continued watching the house. They were parked near the northwest corner of 14th and Grove when a man approached the car and peeked inside. That man turned around, walked back to the home and struck up a conversation with another person.
At one point, another man came out of the home holding a rifle.
“Without warning, he pointed the weapon in the direction of the officers and fired one round. The officer in the unmarked vehicle immediately retreated, tactically repositioning and establishing a perimeter around the residence,” the release said.
The man barricaded himself inside the home and refused to come out. SWAT and crisis negotiators were called, and the man was eventually taken into custody. Police entered the home and recovered a rifle.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to call WPD detectives at 316-268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.