Olathe manhunt ends with suspect in custody after shots fired in police traffic stop
The Olathe manhunt for an armed suspect that caused a lockdown of area schools and daycares has ended in an arrest, according to police.
The arrest was announced about 3:45 p.m. A man was taken into custody without incident near a wooded area near the Santa Barbara Estates mobile home park southeast of 119th Street and Ridgeview Road, said Sgt. Logan Bonney, an Olathe police spokesman.
Police also recovered weapons, he said.
For nearly five hours, police from Olathe and elsewhere in Johnson County had been searching for a man who allegedly shot at police while running away from a traffic stop. Another suspect who was in the vehicle also ran, but was immediately arrested.
No one was injured in the shooting, Bonney said.
Police said the fleeing suspect matched the description of one of the armed robbers who hit four Olathe convenience stores within a two-hour period earlier Monday. However, police said they could not confirm the suspect caught Monday was the same man sought in the robberies, which are still under investigation.
Olathe police said the manhunt began at about 10:20 a.m. when officers attempted to stop a vehicle on North Ridgeview Road near 119th Street in connection with Sunday’s spate of robberies.
The suspect was captured within the search perimeter police established that stretched from 119th Street on the north to Harold Street on the south, and from Ridgeview Road on the west to Kansas City Road on the east.
There may be other suspects in addition to the two men in custody, Bonney said, but they are not believed to be in the area.
The search for the second suspect went on for much of the afternoon and left schools and daycare centers in the area in a state of lockdown.
Melissa and Bill McMaster, who live in the area, said they decided to leave home after they saw the large police presence.
“We saw police with assault rifles,” Melissa McMaster said. “We came out here to be safe.”
By noon, multiple police agencies from Johnson County joined the search, including the Overland Park Police Department.
In the convenience store robberies, two suspects were involved in the first incident. One was described as about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and was wearing a black zip-up jacket and jeans.
The other suspect was was described as 6 feet, 2 inches tall and was wearing a gray stocking cap, black jacket with a red stripe on it and jeans.
A single robber carried out three of the robberies, police said. That robber was described as being about 5 feet, 5 inches tall. In two hold-ups, he was wearing a black jacket with a red stripe on it. In the other, he was wearing a black jacket and a white hat.
Anyone with information about the Monday incidents is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
This story was originally published October 8, 2018 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Olathe manhunt ends with suspect in custody after shots fired in police traffic stop."